New records of soil dwelling mites of the superfamily Pygmephoroidea (Acari: Heterostimatina) from northern Iran

Abstract

Following a short-term faunistic study on soil inhabiting heterostigmatic mites (Acari: Prostigmata: Heterostigmata), during spring-winter 2019, in Gorgan, Golestan Province, northern Iran, a total of six species from five genera of two families were identified. Among them Promicrodispus pumilis (Sevastianov, 1975) and Premicrodispus montanus Khaustov, 2006 are new records for mite fauna of Iran. The genus Promicrodispus Khaustov, 2017 is recorded for the first time for the mite fauna of Iran. Moreover, Pre. akermanae (Sevastianov & Al Douri, 1988), Paramicrodispus scarabidophilus Hajiqanbar & Rahiminejad, 2012, Pygmodispus (Allodispus) latisternus Paoli, 1911 and Scutacarus sphaeroideus Karafiati, 1959 were collected from soil in the sampling sites. The world distribution of the mites is reviewed.

Keywords

• soil arthropods
• forest
• berlese funnel
• gorgan
• iran