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Pollen used as an alternative or supplementary food source for a predatory mite not only provides important nutrients but also allows the predator to establish a population before prey becomes available. In this study, we compared the pollen of apricot, pear, hollyhock, opium poppy, and date palm, and a factitious prey, UV-irradiated eggs of Ephestia kuehniella, as food sources for Amblyseius swirskii. Different food items affected all development stages differently, except for hollyhock pollen, where eggs failed to develop to maturity. Food type affected the reproductive ability of females, which did not reproduce when fed on opium poppy during immature stages. Most eggs per female were produced when feeding on the factitious prey, and second most with apricot pollen. Feeding on factitious prey compared with pollen, resulted in greater longevity of both female and male adults. Feeding on pear pollen or factitious prey caused, respectively, the lowest and highest population growth rates (r and λ). Both net (R0) and gross (GRR) reproductive rates were highest when the factitious prey was the food source. Among the pollen diets, apricot was the most beneficial food item. Because of their effects on rates of population increase, either apricot pollen or the factitious prey could be further utilized as cost-effective alternative food diets for both experimental and commercial mass rearing of A. swirskii.

A new species of Gaeolaelaps (Acari, Mesostigmata, Laelapidae), Gaeolaelaps izajiensis sp. n. is described based on the morphological characters of adult females which were collected from soil sample in the Izeh and Ghaletol regions of the Khuzestan province, Iran. It can be distinguished from the other members of the genus by some morphological characteristics of dorsal shield, form and reticulation of epigynal shield, the exopodal plates, and the peritremes.

The ant fauna from the Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari Province of Iran was surveyed. As a result, a total of 28 ant species belonging to 11 genera of Formicidae were collected and identified. Species status is proposed for Messor barbarus subsp. mediosanguineus Donisthorpe, 1946, the species status of Messor platyceras Crawley, 1920 is restored with Messor platyceras var. rubella Crawley, 1920 as a new synonym of the nominotypical form, and Camponotus oasium ninivae Pisarski, 1971 is removed from synonyms of Camponotus oasium Forel, 1890. The genera Messor Forel, 1890, with seven species and Cataglyphis Förster, 1850 with six species, have the highest species richness. Messor mediosanguineus Donisthorpe, 1946, Pheidole koshewnikovi Ruzsky, 1905 and Camponotus oasium ninivae Pisarski, 1971 were recorded in Iran for the first time.

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