Species diversity of Oribatida mite community (Acari: Oribatida) by soil types and habitats in the Red river delta, Viet Nam

Research was undertaken from 2013 to 2017, in eleven provinces and cities, in the Red river delta, Vietnam. Samples were collected from fives types of habitat as follow: natural forest, human – disturbed forest, grassland, cultivated land with perennial plants, agricultural land with annual plants. Samples were also taken from five types of soil: coastal saline - acid soil, acid alluvial soil, neutral alluvial soil, ferritic brownish soil derived from limestone and emaciated greyish soil. In this research, we recorded 283 oribatida species, beloning to 129 genus, 59 families. Among them, 49 species were not defined to species. In comparison with the recordes of Vu Quang Manh (2013) and Ermilov (2015), there are 108 species were for the first time recorded for research region fauna and 65 speciesare new for the Vietnamese fauna. Species diversity of oribatida community in each type of soil and in each habitat are different from each others. The species number in each soil type oscillated from 78 species to 178 species. The species number in each habitat oscillated from 95 species to 127 species. The rate of species which only were recorded in one type of soil or in one habitat is high. The results show that soil types and habitats are in close relationship with oribatida community. It is the scientific base for using oribatida community as a biodiversity for soil quality.