Species diversity of Mesostigmatic mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) in Darab region

Mites are one of the largest groups of Arachnida with global distribution. Mesostigmatic mites are the largest order (in both number and distribution) among super order mites Parasitiformes. In a recent study by Fauna Mesostigmatic mites were studied as biodiversity index from Darab region (Fars province-Iran).Continuous tree soil sampling was done in the spring and summer of 2021and 2022 from the northern and southern orchards. In total, the number of 1641 specimens belonging to 37 species from 15 families and 18 plant hosts were collected in two replicates. Variance analysis in the form of factorial experiment with three factors of year, region and season with two replications based on completely random design and mean comparisons based on Duncan's test at probability level of 5% using Minitab 16 software and biodiversity index using Past software (version 4.02) was done. The highest frequency of mites collected in fruit orchards in the north and south of Darab region in 2021 and 2022, it was related to orange tree with 688 specimens. Total mite specimens collected in North and South in both 2021 and 2022, it showed that the Laelapidae family had the highest percentage among the 15 investigated families. In this research, two species Nenteria n.sp. and Macrodinychus n.sp. were new to the world that is being described.