Fauna of soil-inhabiting Mesostigmata (Acari) in Mahan City and new report of a subgenus and a species of the subfamily Pergamasinae (Parasitidae) from Iran

Abstract

In a faunistic study on the edaphic Mesostigmata in Mahan City in center of Kerman Province, soil samples were collected from different habitats, their mites extracted using Berlese-Tullgren funnels, cleared in Nesbitt’s fluid and then identified after mounting in Hoyer's medium on microscope slides. Totally, 34 species belonging to 26 genera and 15 families of Mesostigmata were collected, including female and male specimens of Pergamasus (Thenargamasus) quisquiliarus (G. & R. Canestrini) that was considered as the first record of the subgenus and species from Iran. List of the collected mites and also morphological attributes of the new recorded mite were presented. Additionally, the pergamasine mites of Iran and their classification were revised and a key to the Iranian genera and species was provided. Additionally, Hypoaspis sclerotarsus Costa was transferred to the genus Hypoaspisella Bernhard and diagnostic morphological features of the species were presented.

Keywords

• parasitoidea
• predators
• taxonomy
• hypoaspisella
• new combination