Species Diversity of Mites from the Macrochelidae Family (Acari: Mesostigmata) in Some Areas of Shiraz

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.