First report of the family Stigmocheylidae (Trombidiformes: Paratydeoidea) from Iran

During the investigation of edafic mites fauna of walnut fields in Estahban (Fars province, longitude 29˚ 06 ́N, latitude 54˚ 01 ́E and altitude 1860 m above sea level in spring 2009, a few speciments belonging to the family of Stigmochelylidae were collected from walnut soil, placed in lactophenol, mounted in Hoyer’s medium and finally identified as Stigmocheylus sp. Length of idiosoma and its maximum width were 274.4 µm and 127.4 µm respectively. This is the first record of the family and genus from Iran. This family, which belongs to the order Trombidiformes, suborder Prostigmata and subfamily Paratydeoidea, contains small and, soft-bodied elongate and free living or parasitic mites (Krantz & Walter, 2009). Some morphological characteristics of this family are as follows: Prodorsum with 2 pairs of trichobthria; palps with well-developed thumb-claw process, palptibia usually with at least one claw-like seta distally, palptarsus usually well developed; first and second legs widely separated from legs 3 and 4. stigmocheylid mites are known from Australia, Europe, North America and North Africa. (Krantz & Walter, 2009). Peritremes not segmented; setae c3 absent; setae sci longer than other species (Bochkov, 2008). This species is the first record in the world regarding to this characters.