مجله ایرانی کنه شناسی
سال:1398 | دوره:8 | شماره:1 |تعداد مقالات:8

More than 700 plant mites have been known in India, out of which about half of the species are phytophagous in nature (Gupta 2012). Most phytophagous mites belong to the families Tetranychidae, Tenuipalpidae, Tarsonemidae, and Eriophyidae (Gupta 2012). Studies on phytophagous mites are meagre in Kerala especially from northern districts. The present survey was carried out in various agricultural fields of Kasaragod district from January to December 2016 excluding rainy seasons from June to August. In this order, 12 vegetable crops were randomly selected. Leaves infested by mites were collected in polythene bags and brought to the laboratory. Mites were removed from leaves with a hair brush under Leica-S6D stereo zoom microscope and transferred to vials containing 70% ethyl alcohol. Then, extracted mites were mounted on micro slides in Hoyer's medium. Mites were identified under Leica DM750 Research Microscope by using taxonomic keys and expert opinions...

The Macrochelidae is a cosmopolitan family of predatory mites that currently comprises approximately 480 described species belonging to 21 genera (Emberson 2010; Krantz 2018). They mostly occur in ephemeral substrates such as animal dung and feed on nematodes and other small invertebrates and after decreasing quality of these habitats they transfer to new suitable habitats using phoretic association with flying hosts (Krantz 1998; Lindquist et al. 2009). The genus Macrocheles Latreille, 1829 comprises about 320 described species worldwide (Emberson 2010). Iranian mites of Macrochelidae are relatively poorly known. Kazemi and Rajaei (2013) listed 16 species of the genus Macrocheles which were reported from Iran: M. baliensis Takaku & Hartini, 2001, M. cristati Costa, 1967, M. glaber (Mü ller, 1860), M. insignitus (Berlese, 1981), M. matrius (Hull, 1925), M. merdarius (Berlese, 1889), M. muscaedomesticae (Scopoli, 1772), M. nataliae (Bergetova & Koroleva, 1960), M. penicilliger (Berlese, 1904), M. peniculatus Berlese, 1918, M. perglaber Filipponi & Pegazzano, 1962, M. robustulus (Berlese, 1904), M. scutatus (Berlese, 1904), M. subbadius (Berlese, 1904), M. sumbaensis Hartini & Takaku, 2005, M. vernalis (Berlese, 1887). Later, Ahadiyat et al. (2013), and Hosseinpour and Latifi (2014) recorded two more species from the country, M. mammifer Berlese, 1918 and M. terreus Canestrini & Fanzago, 1877, respectively...