PLENARY OPENING LECTURE\nFrom sequence to phoresy - molecular biology in acarology (Hans Klompen)\nPHYLOGENY AND TAXONOMY OF ACARI\nSystematic relationships of Lohmanniidae (Acari: Oribatida) (Roy A. Norton)\nAnomalies of notogastral structures in poronotic oribatid mites (Oribatida: Poronota) interpreted as cryptic ancestral characters modulated by regulatory genes (Gerd Weigmann)\nPhylogeny and host-parasite associations of feather mites of the Pteroherpus generic group (Astigmata: Pteronyssidae) (Sergey Mironov & Georges Wauthy)\nOntogeny of the famulus in selected members of Damaeidae (Acari: Oribatida) and its suitability as a phylogenetic marker (Jan Mourek & Ladislav Miko) 37 Food competition and feeding behavior and its implications for the phylogeny of the Histiostomatidae (Astigmata) (Stefan Wirth)\nAssessment of the usefulness of eight DNA fragments for phylogenetic studies within the family Phytoseiidae (M.-S. Tixier, S. Guichou & S. Kreiter)\nThe genus Dermanyssus (Mesostigmata: Dermanyssidae): history and species characterization (L. Roy & C. Chauve)\nMORPHOLOGY OF ACARI\nFirst ultrastructural observations on a putative sperm access system in veigaiid females (Veigaiidae, Gamasida) (Gerd Alberti, Antonella di Palma, Gerald W. Krantz & Czeslaw Blaszak)\nComparative ultrastructure of the integument in adult mites of the Parasitengona and its phylogenetic implication (Andrew B. Shatrov)\nThe water mite family Pontarachnidae, with new data on its peculiar morphological structures (Acari: Hydachnidia) (Harry Smit & Gerd Alberti)\nTwo novel adaptations for dispersal in the mite family Histiostomatidae (Astigmata) (Norman J. Fashing)\n\'Private matters\' of Sancassania berlesei (Acaridida, Acaridae): testes, receptaculum seminis, ovary and the location of sperm (Kerstin Klien & Manfred G. Walzl)\nBIOGEOGRAPHY AND BIODIVERSITY OF ACARIHeterozerconidae: A comparison between a temperate and a tropical species (Beverly S. Gerdeman & Rufino Garcia)\nPatterns of diversity inthe Ceratozetoidea (Acari: Oribatida): a North American assessment (Valerie Behan-Pelletier & Heinrich Schatz)\nMites occurring in the canopy of Sitka spruce growing in Ireland (Julio Arroyo, Patrick Neville & Thomas Bolger)\nChanges of the oribatid community after a windthrow event (Eileen Kreibich, Coronula Grauf1 & Sabrina Strauch)\nEffects of a windthrow event in the forest of the peninsula Darss on the gamasid fauna (Arachnida) and Collembola (Annett Wegener & Gerd Alberti)\nSuccession of oribatid fauna (Acari, Oribatida) in fallen spruce trees: Deadwood promotes species and functional diversity (Piotr Skubala & Magdalena Maslak)\nEffects of reforestation with conifers on the communities of mesostigmatic mites in northern Spain (Acari: Mesostigmata) (María Lourdes Moraza)\nActinedid mite community diversity in a succession gradient in continental sand-dune habitats of central Europe (David J. Russell & Gerd Alberti)\nCommunities of Oribatida associated with litter input in western red cedar tree crowns: Are moss mats \'magic carpets\' for oribatid mite dispersal? (Zoë Lindo)\nOribatid communities (Acari: Oribatida) associated with bird\'s nest ferns (Asplenium nidus\ncomplex) in a subtropical Japanese forest - a mini-review (Shigenori Karasawa & Naoki Hijii)\nMites of the families Anystidae and Teneriffiidae from Baja California Sur, Mexico (Mercedes Guadalupe López-Campos & Ignacio Vázquez-Rojas)\nTerrestrial species of the genus Nanorchestes (Endeostigmata: Nanorchestidae) in Europe (Matti Uusitalo)\nPtyctima (Acari, Oribatida) in various habitats in Finland (R. Penttinen & V. Huhta)\nDistribution of Cosmochthonius species (Oribatida: Cosmochthoniidae) in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, Ukraine and Tajikistan (R. Penttinen & E. Gordeeva)\nAn inventory of oribatid mites, the main decomposers in bogs of Colchic Lowland (Caucasus, Georgia) (Maka Murvanidze & Eristo Kvavadze)\nThe soil mites of buttongrass moorland (Tasmania) and their response to