New species of oribatid mites of the subfamily Brachioppiinae (Acari, Oribatida, Oppiidae) from Hogsback, South Africa

Three new species of the oribatid mite family Oppiidae are described from soil and coniferous litter of Hogsba ck State Forest, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Brachioppia bituberculata sp. nov. differs from its relate d species, Brachioppia excrescens and B. louwi, by the localization of cilia on the bothridial head and length an d placement of dorsal notogastral setae. Kokoppia macrotuberculata sp. nov. differs from its related species, Kokoppia longisetosa, by the body length, the length of notogastral setae, the localization of notogastral setae la and lm, and the presence of interbothridial macrotubercle. Pletzenoppia ethiopica sp. nov. differs from it s related species, Pletzenoppia pletzenae, by the body length, different number of cilia on bothridial seta, the relative length of prodorsal setae, the localization of notogastral setae la and lm, and the absence o f interbothridial tubercle. An identification key to known species of Pletzenoppia is presented. In recent years, the oribatid mites of the family Oppiidae have been actively studied in South Africa (e.g. Hugo-Coetzee 2014, 2016, 2017; Ermilov & Hugo-Coetzee 2019; Ermilov et al. 2020a, b). During taxonomic identification of oppiids (Acari, Oribatida) from Hogsback State Forest in Sou th Africa, we found three new species of the subfamily Brachioppiinae, belonging to the genera Brachioppia Hammer, 1961, Kokoppia Balogh, 1983 and Pletzenoppia Balogh, 1983. The main goal of our paper is to describe and illustrate these new species.