h. ostovan

Species diversity is one of the most significant indicators of changes in ecosystems. Due to their nutritional diversity, abundance, and ubiquity, mites can be a good representative of arthropods in the soil. Whereas Mesostigmatic mites are the largest in terms of number and distribution in Parasitiformes and are able to live among different terrestrial habitats, they can be of great ecological importance. Therefore, the diversity of stigmatic mites from the Macrochelidae family was studied in 2016 in Shiraz.

A total number of eight species of two genera belonging to the Macrochelidae family was identified and collected from 12 plant hosts in the parks of Shiraz. The highest number of samples was collected in spring and autumn. The highest to lowest samples were collected in October and July, respectively. Among the plant hosts, Piracanta with 109 samples and pine with 33 samples had the highest to lowest hosts, respectively. Biodiversity was calculated with Shannon-Wiener, Simpson, Margalf, Pete, Manhink indices using Past 4.02 and Spss23 software

Macrocheles glaber (Muller, 1860) with 170 specimens (22%) and Glyptholaspis confusa (Foa) with 17 specimens (2.2%) had the highest and lowest frequencies, respectively.

  The highest values of Simpson index 0.8553 and Shannon 1.985 are related to winter, and the lowest values are 0.8235 and 1.834, respectively, related to summer while the Manning coefficient is 0.7 and the Margalf coefficient 1.315 and they are the lowest values in summer. The highest coefficients of Simpson and Shannon which are 0.8617 and 2.021 respectively, can be seen in Azadi Park.

Family Anthocoridae, are as biological control agents in many agroecosystems. The seasonal abundance and distribution of Orius species were determined from different crops, trees, flowers and weeds in Fars province during 2016-2018. In this study Orius  albidipennis (Reuter), Orius laticollis discolor (Reuter), Orius laticollis laticollis (Reuter), Orius  horvathi (Reuter), Orius  minutus (Linnaeus), Orius vicinus (Ribaut), Orius  retamae Noualhier, Orius laevigatus inaequalis*Wagner, Orius laevigatus laevigatus (Fieber), Orius laevigatus maderensis* (Reuter), Orius niger aegyptiacus Wagner, Orius niger niger (Wolff), Orius  piceicollis* (Lindberg) were collected on different 63 host plants from 50 regions in Fars province. Among them the species and subspecies marked with * were new records for Iran. The Simpson diversity indices of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter seasons were 3.954, 4.082, 3,793 and 1 respectively. Seasonal diversity of Orius spp. In Summer were significantly higher than other seasons. O. niger niger was found to be active throughout the year. The other species of Orius were collected in spring, summer and autumn, O. piceicollis, O. retamae and O. laevigatus inaequalis were only active in summer. O. niger niger and O. albidipennis were the most collected Anthocorid species. From results it is concluded that O. niger niger and O. albidipennis are well adapted to the geographical conditions and plant biodiversity in Fars province. Therefore, they could be considered as biological control agents in fields.

The flower bugs genus Orius Wolff, 1811 (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) in Fars province is reviewd. These insects are useful and important as natural members of the predatory fauna and as biological control agents in many agroecosystems. The Orius specimens were collected from different regions of Fars province (southern Iran) during 2016-2019, and put in alcohol 75% mix of Glycerin 5%.  Then males' genitalia and females' copulatory tubes were mounted on slides by Hoyer’s medium to examine and illustrate the detailed characters. In this research Eight species are recognised, one of them Orius piceicollis (Linberg,1936)and subspecies Orius laevigatus maderensis (Reuter,1884)are new records for Iran. Diagnoses, habitus and DIC images of species including both male and female genitalia are provided. However identifying these insects has been based on identifying the male’s genitalia, but    upon the results of this investigation, female copulatory tubes, along with a male paramer characters can be used as a reliable character for identification of genus Orius species.

Population fluctuations, and parasitoids complex of Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton were studied in two citrus orchards from June 2010 to September 2011 in Shiraz. To determine the density of P. citrella 10 trees were selected randomly every week and 40 leaves were collected from each tree. Weekly sampling in 2 orchards showed that the citrus leaf miner was emerged from the early May and increased its population gradually and reached to its maximum when the temperature was between 23.5–33.5 ◦C and the relative humidity was between 31.5–39% in June and July 2010. Insect population decreased during the summer month to the end of the August. Then the insect population increased. In early September and reached to its maximum when the temperature was between 21–27◦C and the relative humidity was between 34.5–44.5% in November. Because of the cold weather, the population density decreased from the end of January and reached to the minimum to the end of April. Four species of hymenopterous parasitoids were found and identified namely, Pediobius pyrgo (Walker), Pediobius saulius (Walker), Pnigalio soemius (Walker) and Closterocerus formosus (Westwood) (Eulophidae). The most common parasitoid during 2 years sampling was determined P .saulius