Persian Journal of Acarology, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 389–474. Article A catalog of Iranian prostigmatic mites of superfamilies Raphignathoidea & Tetranychoidea (Acari) Gholamreza Beyzavi1*, Edward A. Ueckermann2 & 3, Farid Faraji4 & Hadi Ostovan1 1 Department of Entomology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Fars, Iran; E-mail:
[email protected] 2 ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute, Private bag X123, Queenswood, Pretoria, 0121, South Africa; E-mail:
[email protected] 3 School of Environmental Sciences and Development, Zoology, North-West University- Potchefstroom Campus, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa 4 MITOX Consultants, P. O. Box 92260, 1090 AG Amsterdam, The Netherlands * Corresponding author Abstract This catalog comprises 56 genera and 266 species of mite names of superfamilies Raphignathoidea and Tetranychoidea recorded from Iran at the end of January, 2013. Data on the mite distributions and habitats based on the published information are included. Remarks about the incorrect reports and nomen nudum species are also presented. Key words: Checklist, mite, habitat, distribution, Iran. Introduction Apparently the first checklist about mites of Iran was that of Farahbakhsh in 1961. Subsequently the following lists were published: “The 20 years researches of Acarology in Iran, List of agricultural pests and their natural enemies in Iran, A catalog of mites and ticks (Acari) of Iran and Injurious mites of agricultural crops in Iran” are four main works (Sepasgosarian 1977; Modarres Awal 1997; Kamali et al. 2001; Khanjani & Haddad Irani-Nejad 2006). Prostigmatic mites consist of parasitic, plant feeding and beneficial predatory species and is the major group of Acari in the world. Untill 2011, 26205 species were described in this suborder, of which 4728 species belong to the cohort Raphignathina and tetranychoid and raphignathoid mites include 2211 and 877 species respectively (Zhang et al.