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Fauna of edaphic Mesostigmata (Acari) in oak forest in Khorramabad region (Loretan Province, Iran)

I. Hasanvand1, Sh. Jafari1, Sh. Kazemi2, J. Shakarami1 1 M.sc. student of Agricultural Entomology and Assistant professor, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural, University of Lorestan, Khorramabad, Iran 2Assistant professor, International Center for Science, High Technology & Environmental Sciences, Kerman, Iran E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Mesostigmatic mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) are among the most important predators of small arthropods and nematodes in soil habitats. For this reason, edaphic mite fauna of oak forest in Khorramabad region were studied. Mite specimens were extracted using Berlese-Tullgren funnels, cleared by Nesbitt’s fluid and mounted in Hoyer's medium. A total of 15 species belong to nine genera and seven families were identified of which eight species are considered to new records for Lorestan province fauna. Keywords: edaphic mites, Mesostigmata, oak, Lorestan Province.

Introduction Forest resources are important and vital resources of every country and sequence of these resources in different climatic and human courses has been much important for prospective planning. West oak forests on Zagros Mountains have been very important in terms of area, environmental problems and water and soil resources conservation (Ghazanfari et al., 2004). Lorestan province is a mountainous region and has various forests. Total area of the province forests is 885000 ha. Considering that, this region has an important role in long-term social, economic and environmental goals of the country (Pourreza et al., 2008). Knowledge of species diversity is important to understanding the natural and disturbed ecosystems, of which soil communities form an important part (Salmane and Brumelis, 2010). Among edaphic organisms, mites are the one of the largest and most biologically diverse groups of the arachnids, rivaling insects in the extent to which they have successfully colonized aquatic and terrestrial habitats (Evans, 1992). The Mesostigmata are a group of mites (Acari) comprising a great diversity of vertebrate parasites-symbionts of insects, and for the most part, free-living predators that usually feed on arthropods and nematodes in soil habitats. Soil, litter, plants, dung and decaying wood are all inhabited by a range of free-living mesostigmatic mites (Walter et al., 1998). Literatures show that there are rare studies regarding fauna of oak mites in Iran, only few species reported from oak forests in Fars Province (Kazemi and Rajaei, 2013), therefore this study was performed to evaluate these mites in the oak forests of Khorramabad region.

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Materials and Methods Khorramabad region is located between latitude 32º 56´to 33º 51´, longitude 47 º 41´to 48 º 57´and altitudes of 1171 m above sea level. During 2012-2013, soil samples were collected from different habitats and mites extracted using Berlese-Tullgren funnels, cleared in Nesbitt’s fluid and mounted in Hoyer's medium on microscope slides (Walter & Krantz, 2009), in the entomological laboratory of Plant Protection Department of Lorestan University.

Results and Discussion In the present study 15 species belong to nine genera and seven families were collected and identified of which eight species are new records for Lorestan Province fauna that are marked by an asterisk. The list of identified species is as follow:

Family Laelapidae Berlese, 1892 Genus Gaeolaelaps Evans & Till, 1966 Gaeolaelaps aculeifer (Canestrini, 1884): Greet district, 24.5.2012, (7♀). Gaeolaelaps queenslandicus (Womersley, 1956): Zarinchogha district, 6.10.2012, (4♀, 1♂). Gaeolaelaps kargi Costa, 1968: Greet district, 24.5.2012, (6♀); Kaldar district, 2.5.2013, (5♀). Gaeolaelaps nolli (Karg, 1962): Chamseyedi district, 5.10.2012, (4♀). Genus Androlaelaps Berlese, 1903 Androlaelaps shealsi Costa, 1968: Shorab forest park, 23.1.2013, (12♀). Androlaelaps fenilis* Megnin, 1875: Bishe district, 2.10.2012, (8♀). Genus Euandrolaelaps Bregetova, 1977 Euandrolaelaps karawaiewi (Berlese, 1903): Veisian district, 14.5.2013, (12♀, 3♂).

Family Veigaiidae Oudemans, 1939 Genus Veigaia Oudemans, 1905 Veigaia nemorensis* (C.L. Koch, 1892): Greet district, 24.5.2012, (25♀, 5♂, 2n). Veigaia planicola* Berlese, 1882: Ghalesangi district, 29.11.2012, (18♀).

Family Parasitidae Oudemans, 1901 Genus Parasitus Latreille, 1795 Parasitus consanguineus* Oudemans & Voigts, 1904: Shorab forest park, 23.1.2013, (4♀, 5n).

Family Macrochelidae Vitzthum, 1930 Genus Macrocheles Latreille, 1829 Macrocheles robustulus* (Berlese, 1904): Badrabad district, 4.5.2013, (11♀). Macrocheles scutatus* (Berlese, 1904): Naservand district, 2.4.2013, (8♀).

Family Melicharidae Hirschmann, 1962 Genus Proctolaelaps Berlese, 1923 Proctolaelaps pygmaeus (Müller, 1860): Kaldar district, 21.5.2013, (5♀).

Family Pachylaelapidae Berlese, 1913 Genus Pseudolaelaps Berlese, 1916

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Pseudolaelaps doderoi* (Berlese, 1910): Bishe district, 9.6.2012, (6♀).

Family Rhodacaridae Oudemans, 1902 Genus Multidentorhodacarus Shcherbak, 1980 Multidentorhodacarus denticulatus* (Berlese, 1921): Greet district, 24.5.2012, (13♀).

References Evans, G.O. 1992. Principles of acarology. CAB International, Wallingford, United Kingdom: Publisher 565 pp. Ghazanfari, H., M. Namiranian, and H. Sobhani. 2004. Traditional Forest Management and its Application to Encourage Public Participation for Sustainable Forest Management in the Northern Zagros Mountains of Kurdistan Province, Iran, Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 19: 65-71. Kazemi, Sh. and A. Rajaei.2013. An annotated checklist of Iranian Mesostigmata (Acari), excluding the family Phytoseiidae. Persian Journal of Acarology 2(1): 63–158. Pourreza M., J. Shaw, and H. Zangeneh. 2008. Sustainability of wild pistachio (Pistacia atlantica Desf.) in Zagros forests, Iran. Forest Ecology and Manage 255(11): 3667–3671. Salmane, I. and G. Brumelis. 2010. Species list and habitat preference of Mesostigmata mites (Acari, Parasitiformes) in Latvia. Acarologia 50(3): 373–394. Walter, D.E. and G.W. Krantz. 2009. Collecting, rearing, and preparing specimens. In: Krantz, G. W., and D.E. Walter. (eds.) A Manual of Acarology. Third edition. Texas Tech University Press, pp 83–94. Walter, D.E., O. Seeman, D. Rodgers, and R.L. Kitching. 1998. Mites in the mist: how unique is a rainforest canopy-knockdown fauna. Australian Journal of Ecology 23: 501–508.

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