See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305496723 A new species of Platyseius Berlese (Acari: Mesostigmata: Blattisociidae) from Iran, and a key to the world species of the genus Article in Zootaxa · July 2016 CITATIONS READS 0 74 3 authors, including: Shahrooz Kazemi Sepideh Saberi Kerman Graduate University of Technology Kerman Graduate University of Technology 109 PUBLICATIONS 473 CITATIONS 5 PUBLICATIONS 17 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Faunistic survey on the predatory mites, especially Mesostigmata (Acari), in Mangrove (Hara) forests in the eastern part of the Persian Gulf View project Faunistic survey on mesostigmatic mites of Iran View project All content following this page was uploaded by Shahrooz Kazemi on 25 July 2018. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Zootaxa 4139 (4): 566–574 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2016 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4139.4.8 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F2BF507A-DECC-4D74-B04B-E95D44B3EC81 A new species of Platyseius Berlese (Acari: Mesostigmata: Blattisociidae) from Iran, and a key to the world species of the genus SHAHROOZ KAZEMI1, MAJID PAYANDEH2 & SEPIDEH SABERI1 1Department of Biodiversity, Institute of Science and High Technology and Environmental Sciences, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, Iran. E-mails: [email protected], [email protected] 2Department of Plant Protection, Jahad Daneshgahi Higher Education Institution of Kashmar, Kashmar, Iran Abstract We describe a new species of Platyseius Berlese, 1916 belonging to the subglaber species group, P. persicus sp. nov., on the basis of adult females collected in moist soil and litter in Kashmar, northeastern Iran and Nowshahr, northern Iran. A key to females of Platyseius is presented. Key words: Gamasina, Phytoseioidea, Platyseiinae, subaquatic mites Introduction Evans & Hyatt (1960) established the Platyseiinae as a subfamily of the Ascidae, including the genera Cheiroseius Berlese, 1916 (then called Sejus), Platyseius Berlese, 1916, Plesiosejus Evans & Hyatt, 1960 and Zerconopsis Hull, 1918. Lindquist & Evans (1965) defined the subfamily more clearly after placing Zerconopsis into Arctoseiidae. Currently, the Platyseiinae includes three genera, Cheiroseiulus Evans & Baker, 1991, Cheiroseius and Platyseius, treated as one of two subfamilies of Blattisociidae of the superfamily Phytoseioidea (Lindquist et al., 2009; Lindquist & Moraza, 2010; Moraza & Lindquist, 2011). The genus Platyseius Berlese, 1916 includes about 20 described species reported from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North America and South America (Evans & Hyatt, 1960; Krantz, 1962; Bhattacharyya, 1968; Ishikawa, 1969; Karg, 1971, 1977, 1993, 1994, 2006; Halliday et al., 1998; Lindquist, 2003; Kazemi & Rajaei, 2013; de Moraes et al., 2016). Lindquist (2003) divided the genus Platyseius into two species groups: the subglaber species group (with two pairs of setae in J-series [J4–5]; setae Z5 thicker than adjacent setae; metapodal platelets fused to peritrematal shields; ventrianal shield with 5–6 pairs of opisthogastric setae in addition to circumanals) and the italicus species group (with three pairs of setae in J-series [J3–5]; setae Z5 slender; metapodal platelets free; ventrianal shield usually with three, rarely two or four pairs of opisthogastric setae in addition to circumanals). The latter group was placed into a separate genus, Plesiosejus Evans & Hyatt (1960) (type species Ameroseius italicus Berlese, 1905), but this was considered part of Platyseius by Lindquist (2003) and we follow this concept here. Species of Platyseius usually occur in moist habitats, such as mosses in springs and streams, and also lake and river margins. The presence of some elongated and usually strip-like setae on tarsi II–IV, the shape and size of their paradactyli, and the median projection of the pulvilli on these legs, can be considered as adaptations to move in at least periodically moist habitats or water films (Evans & Hyatt, 1960; Karg, 1971; Lindquist, 2003). The thickened peritremes in these mites, which extend posteriorly to the hind edge of the peritrematal shields, suggests their function as a plastron (Hinton, 1971). Cheiroseius, with ten reported species, is the largest genus of the Platyseiinae in Iran (Faraji et al., 2008; Kazemi & Rajaei, 2013; Shamsi & Saboori, 2013). The only members of the genus Platyseius recorded from Iran are P. italicus (Berlese, 1905) and P. subglaber (Oudemans, 1903) (Kazemi & Rajaei, 2013). Herein, we describe a new species of the genus belonging to the subglaber species group collected in north and northeastern Iran, and prepare a key to the females of all described species of Platyseius. 566 Accepted by B. Halliday: 15 Jun. 2016; published: 22 Jul. 2016 View publication stats.