Persian Journal of Acarology
Volume:8 Issue: 4, Autumn 2019

The identification of Hyalomma is a challenging issue in the systematics of ixodid ticks. Here, we examined 960 adult males of Hyalomma tick from 10 provinces of Iran using morphological and molecular methods. PCR was carried out on 60 samples to amplify an ITS2 fragment of nuclear and a COI fragment of mitochondrial genomes. Nine species, namely H. aegyptium, H. anatolicum, H. asiaticum, H. scupense, H. dromedarii, H. excavatum, H. marginatum, H. rufipes and H. schulzei were identified. The validity of H. rufipes and H. excavatum can be challenged. We concluded that these species should be regarded as H. marginatum and H. anatolicum complexes, respectively. Furthermore, the taxonomic status of the two closely related H. anatolicum and H. asiaticum was confirmed as distinct species.

We provide new records of five oribatid and 10 mesostigmatic mite species for Georgia. As a result, the number of oribatid mites registered for Georgia increased to 548 and the preliminary number of Mesostigmata species to 136. For each record, diagnostic characters, coordinate data, habitat and information about regional and world distribution are provided.

A new species of the genus Africasia (Hydrachnidia: Athienemanniidae), A. iranica sp. nov., is described and illustrated based on females and males collected from a spring in Khuzestan province, Iran. This is the first report of the family Athienemanniidae from Iran.

Larvae of water mite Hydrachna skorikowi Piersig, 1900 (Acari, Hydrachnidae) were collected on water boatmen species Corixa punctata (Illiger, 1807) and Sigara sp. (Corixidae) from, Guilan provine, Iran captured by light trap. The redescription of the larva was made based on specimens collected from Guilan province, northern Iran. This is the first record of the larva of H. skorikowi from Iran.

In a study on insect-associated heterostigmatic mites (Acari: Trombidiformes: Prostigmata) carried out in Mazandaran province, northern Iran, during spring and summer 2016–2017, a total of 13 species from 11 genera of six families were identified. Among them, three species Imparipes sevastianovi Khaustov, 2008, Scutacarus hystrichocentrus Sevastianov, 1983 (Scutacaridae), and Petalomium kurosai Khaustov, 2014 (Neopygmephoridae) are new records for mite fauna of Iran. The S. hystrichocentrus is also new for Asian mite fauna. Eight new host records are documented and the distributions of the mites are revised. Beetles of the family Cerambycidae are recorded as host of the mite families Microdispidae and Scutacaridae for the first time.