Fauna and biodiversity of edaphic laelapid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) in south of Guilan Province

Fauna and biodiversity of laelapid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) were studied in south of Guilan Province، during 2012–2013. In this research، 18 species belong to eight genera were collected and identified، among them two species were new records for science، one species was new record for Iran and six species were new records for Guilan Province mite fauna. Biodiversity indexes on the basis of species richness were calculated using standard formulas and ecological methodology software. Data processing was performed using SAS software. The estimated Shannon-Wiener’s diversity index and Margalef index showed the significant difference among studied habitats and seasons. The highest and lowest values of Shannon-Wiener’s diversity index and Margalef index were calculated for forest (0. 9) and (2. 7) and field areas (0. 8) and (1. 7)، respectively. Moreover، among different seasons، spring with 0. 94 and 3. 2 and winter with 0. 8 and 1. 4، respectively had greatest and lowest values. According to finding of this study، in fields habitats Gaeolaelaps aculeifer (23%)، G. praesternalis (15%)، Cosmolaelaps vacua (13%) and C. lutegiensis (11%)، were the most abundant species. The evenness index was higher in forest areas (1. 5) than field’s habitats (1. 3). Collected species from forest areas had almost equal relative abundance.