Astigmatid Soil Mite Fauna of Alfalfa Fields, Two New Records of Histiostomatid Species for Iran's Mite Fauna and Their Distribution in Northwest of East Azerbaijan Province, Iran in Northwest of East Azerbaijan Province, Iran in Northwest of East Azerbai

Astigmatic soil mite fauna of alfalfa fields of six regions in Northwest of East Azebaijan (Soofian, Payam, Zenooz, Marand, Shabestar and Jolfa) was studied at three different times of the year 2006 (mid-May, mid-July and mid-September) based on Nested design. In this study 12 species, 5 genera and 2 families were identified. In general, Shabestar and Zenooz showed highest and lowest mean number of mite/sample respectively, and the maximum average was obtained in mid-July. Acaridae was more frequent compared to Anoetidae. Among four identified genera of Acaridae (Tyrophagus, Tyroborus, Suidasia and Rhizoglyphus) Tyrophagus and among its identified species (Tyrophagus neiswandri Johneston & Bruce, 1965, T. similis Volgin, 1949, T. brevicrinatus Roberston, 1956, T. longior (Gervais, 1844), T. putrescentiae (Schrank, 1781), T. perniciosus Zachvatkin, 1941, T. palmarum Oudemans, 1924) T. longior was more frequently observed. Only one genus named Histiostoma was identified from Histiostomatidae which contained two species, Histiostoma polypori (Oudemans, 1914) and Histiostoma litorale (Oudemans, 1914) that both of them are new records for mite fauna of Iran and their distribution was not significantly different in studied regions and times of sampling.