News records of phoretic and soil-living mites from Iran (Acari, Heterostigmata, Scutacaridae)

Abstract

New records of phoretic and soil-living mites from Iran (Acari, Heterostigmata, Scutacaridae). -Scutacarus iranicus sp. n. is described from the West-Azarbaijan province (northwestern Iran). The new species was found to be phoretic on the scarabaeid beetle Pleurophorus anatolicus Petr. At the same locality, but in the soil, other scutacarids were found: Scutacarus quadrangularis (Paoli, 1911), Scutacarus serotinus Sevastianov & Chydyrov, 1992, Pygmodispus (Allodispus) latisternus Paoli, 1911 and Pygmodispus (Pygmodispus) calcaratus Paoli, 1911. These species are recorded for the first time from Iran.

Two new myrmecophilous species of the genus Scutacarus (Acari: Prostigmata: Scutacaridae) with world keys to related species groups

“…Hitherto, 33 species of the Scutacarus with reduced setae e and h 2 have been recorded throughout the world. Most of these species (18) are distributed in Palaearctic region, two of which are recorded from Iran: S. iranicus Ebermann et al , and S. shajariani sp. nov. (Ebermann et al ; Khaustov , ,b; current study).…”

“…Most of these species (18) are distributed in Palaearctic region, two of which are recorded from Iran: S. iranicus Ebermann et al , and S. shajariani sp. nov. (Ebermann et al ; Khaustov , ,b; current study). Eight species are represented by Neotropic region (Mahunka , , ,b), four species by Afrotropic region (Mahunka ,b), two species by Nearctic region (Ebermann & Moser ) and only one species, S. punctatissimus Mahunka, , is recorded from Australasia (Mahunka ).…”

“…lolitus Mahunka, 1967 Setae 2 a about two times longer than 1 b , setae ps 1 and ps 2 subequal, both strongly barbed in distal part… S. vitiosus Mahunka, 1964 –Setae 1 b and 2 a subequal, setae ps 1 longer than ps 2 , both with small barbs throughout the setae (with no strong barbs in distal part).…S . myrmicinus Khaustov, 2015 Setae f longer than h 1 or subequal.…22 –Setae h 1 longer than f .…25 Setae f longer than h 1 and c 2 .… S. ineptus Mahunka, –Setae f and h 1 subequal and shorter than setae c 2 …23 Secondary transverse sclerotized line on poststernal plate absent, setae d more than four times longer than h 1 .… S. sibiriensis Khaustov, 2015 –Secondary transverse sclerotized line on poststernal plate present, setae d at most three times longer than h 1 .…24 Setae c 1 , c 2 and d heavily barbed and slightly thickened distally, setae 4 b less than three times longer than 4 a … S. crinitus Khaustov, 2015 –Setae c 1 , c 2 and d not so heavily barbed and not thickened, setae 4 b more than five times longer 4 a … S. ellipticus Karafiat, 1959 Setae 4 b long and reaching beyond posterior genital sclerite or posterior margin of the body…26 –Setae 4 b not reaching beyond posterior genital sclerite… 32 Setae h 1 subequal to or longer than ps 1 …27 –Setae h 1 shorter than ps 1 …31 All dorsal setae smooth or moderately barbed… S. iranicus Ebermann et al ., –All dorsal setae densely barbed…28 Setae f similar to e and h 2 , strongly reduced… S. jaccoudi Mahunka, 1972 –Setae f normal and well developed…29 Setae 4 b twice as long as 4 a , setae ps 1 at least six times longer than ps 3 …S . lasiophilus Khaustov, 2015 –Setae 4 b at least 2.5 times longer than 4 a , setae ps 1 at most three times longer than ps 3 …30 Setae ps 1 and ps 2 subequal, setae 1 b and 2 a subequal, ap5 absent … S. punctatissimus Mahunka, –Setae ps 1 longer than ps 2 , setae 2 a longer than 1 b , ap5 present and well developed … S. tackei Willmann, 1942 Setae h 1 two times longer than f , secondary transverse apodeme present, ap5 well developed, diffuse and joined with appo… S .…”

“…All dorsal setae smooth or moderately barbed… S. iranicus Ebermann et al ., –All dorsal setae densely barbed…28 …”

“…Among the genera of the family Scutacaridae, the genus Scutacarus Gros, 1845 with more than 400 species in the world and about 170 species in the Palaearctic region is the largest (Khaustov ). In Iran, however, 35 scutacarid species have so far been recorded, among which 14 species (40%) belong to the genus Scutacarus (for example see Kamali et al ; Ebermann et al ; Bagheri et al ; Lotfollahy et al ; Hajiqanbar & Khaustov ; Loghmani et al ; Katlav et al , ; Sobhi et al ). It shows that more investigations and collections of the non‐phoretic and phoretic scutacarids recovered from soil and various arthropods are required to reach or approach the available number of species, especially considering diversity of ecological and biogeographical differentiation of the country.…”