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Type: Articles
Published: 2011-07-21
Page range: 22–36
Abstract views: 32
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New species and new records of mites of the family Laelapidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) associated with ants in Iran

Department of Entomology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, GPO Box 1700, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Iran
Department of Entomology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Acari Laelapidae Gymnolaelaps Laelaspis Pseudoparasitus Myrmozercon ants Iran

Abstract

This paper reports on four species of mites of the family Laelapidae associated with ants in Iran—Gymnolaelaps messor sp. nov. from Messor sp., Gymnolaelaps prestoni sp. nov. from Myrmica sp., Myrmozercon karajensis sp. nov. from Camponotus sp., and Pseudoparasitus missouriensis (Ewing, 1909) from Camponotus sp. This is the first record of Myrmozercon from Iran. The genera Gymnolaelaps and Pseudoparasitus are distinguished from each other and from the related genus Laelaspis by the shape, ornamentation and chaetotaxy of the genital shield, the form of the palp tarsal claw, and the presence or absence of pre-sternal plates.

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