Onchodellus karawaiewi (Berlese, 1920)

Ahadiyat, Ali, Moghadam, Sahebeh Ghasemi, Kermani, Reyhaneh Abutaleb & Harchi, Omid Jo-, 2020, Review of the Iranian species of Pachylaelapidae, with description of a new species of Onchodellus (Acari: Mesostigmata), Zootaxa 4778 (1) : -

Onchodellus karawaiewi (Berlese, 1920)

Pachylaelaps karawaiewi Berlese, 1920b: 173 .

Pachylaelaps karawaiewi .— Koroleva, 1977b: 451.

Onchodellus karawaiewi .— Mašán, 2007: 143; Mašán & Halliday, 2014: 17 .

Diagnosis. Female. Dorsal shield oval, 510–620 long, 340–420 wide (length/width ratio: 1.42–1.68), with one pair of slit-like gland pores (gd9) located on posterolateral margins of the dorsal shield. Gland pores gd8 circular. Dorsal setae smooth, mostly long. Setae J4 (50–73) distinctly longer than J5 (20–30) (J4 / J5 ratio: 2.00–2.90); J1 70, J2 77–78. Sternal shield 160–190 long. Genitiventrianal shield almost as long as wide, 175–223 long, 193–220 wide (length/width ratio: 0.86–1.05). Anal shield 58–73 long, 98–123 wide (length/width ratio: 0.51–0.66). Soft lateral and opisthogastric integument bearing 14 pairs of smooth setae. Anterior end of peritreme reaching between setae z1 and z2, closer to z1.

Male. Dorsal shield 490 long.

Specimens examined. Alborz Province, Karaj County, Karaj City, Sichall Mountainous Area , Dizin : 2 fe- males, 36° 02’ 57” N, 51° 25’ 02” E, altitude: 2,675 m a.s.l., ant’s nest, 23 July 2009, leg. Omid Joharchi ; Karaj County, Chalus Road, Asara District , Adaran Rural District , Kushk-e Bala Village : 1 female, 35° 58′ 58″ N, 51° 05′ 22″ E, altitude: 1,817 m a.s.l., ant’s nest, 21 June 2009, leg. Omid Joharchi. Kerman Province, Baft City : 1 female, 29° 13’ 47” N, 56° 35’ 16” E, altitude: 2,255 m a.s.l., soil and manure in croft, 2 November 2013, leg. Malihe Latifi ; Rafsanjan City : 1 female, 30° 24’ 17” N, 56° 00’ 06” E, altitude: 1,521 m a.s.l., soil of orchard, 26 October 2012, leg. Malihe Latifi ; Zarand City : 1 female, 30° 48’ 59” N, 56° 33’ 33” E, altitude: 1,657 m a.s.l., soil, 10 October 2012, leg. Malihe Latifi. South Khorasan Province, Tabas County, Deyhuk District, Deyhuk City : 1 female, 33° 13’ 48” N, 57° 30’ 43” E, altitude: 1,466 m a.s.l., soil, 10 March 2013, leg. Zahra Dehghan. Tehran Province, Tehran City, Qeytariyeh Park : 2 females, 35° 46’ N, 51° 27’ E, soil, collecting date unknown, collected in 2011 or 2012, leg. Simin Baroozeh ; Shemiranat County, Rudbar-e Qasran District, Rudbar-e Qasran Rural District , Zaygan Village : 1 male, 35° 58’ N, 51° 35’ E, altitude: 2,105 m a.s.l., leaf-litter of common ivy, 21 August 2011, leg. Zahra Cheraghali ; Shemiranat County, Rudbar-e Qasran District, Rudbar-e Qasran Rural District , Garmabdar Village : 1 female & 1 male, 35° 98’ N, 51° 46’ E, altitude: 2,410 m a.s.l., soil of walnut trees, 9 October 2011, leg. Zahra Cheraghali. Yazd Province, Taft County, Taft City : 8 females & 3 males, 31° 44’ 24” N, 54° 11’ 39” E, altitude: 1,572 m a.s.l., soil of pomegranate trees, 1 April 2013, leg. Zahra Dehghan ; Taft County, Shirkuh Rural District, Tezerjan Village : 7 females & 1 male, 31° 35’ 44” N, 54° 10’ 42” E, altitude: 2,196 m a.s.l., soil of walnut and almond trees, 1 April 2013, leg. Zahra Dehghan ; Taft County, Shirkuh Rural District, Deh-e Bala Village : 5 females & 8 males, 31° 36’ 08” N, 54° 07’ 34” E, altitude: 2,482 m a.s.l., soil of walnut trees, 1 April 2013, leg. Zahra Dehghan ; Mehriz County, Miankuh Rural District, Fakhr-abad Village : 1 female & 1 male, 31° 36’ 34” N, 54° 18’ 05” E, altitude: 1,702 m a.s.l., soil of walnut tree, 27 April 2013, leg. Zahra Dehghan ; Mehriz County, Miankuh Rural District, Ebrahimabad Village : 1 male, 31° 38′ 30″ N, 54° 19′ 39″ E, altitude: 1,635 m a.s.l, soil of pomegranate tree, 18 November 2012, leg. Zahra Dehghan ; Mehriz County, Miankuh Rural District, Banadak Sadat Village : 1 female, 31° 32’ 56” N, 54° 12’ 22” E, altitude: 2,333 m a.s.l., soil of orchard, 24 September 2012, leg. Zahra Dehghan ; Mehriz County, Miankuh Rural District, Manshad Village : 3 females, 31° 30’ 48” N, 54° 13’ 30” E, altitude: 2,369 m a.s.l., soil, 13 September 2012, leg. Zahra Dehghan ; Mehriz County, Khormiz Rural District, Khormizat Village : 2 females & 2 males, 31° 31’ 48” N, 54° 26’ 46” E, altitude: 1,518 m a.s.l, soil, 16 October 2012, leg. Zahra Dehghan ; Ardakan County, Kharanaq District, Sarv Park : 3 females, 32° 24’ 03” N, 54° 31’ 37” E, altitude: 2,123 m a.s.l., soil, 7 September 2012, leg. Zahra Dehghan.

Habitat preference in Iran. Soil, leaf-litter, manure, and ants’ nests.

Provincial distribution in Iran. Alborz, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, East Azerbaijan, Fars, Golestan, Hamadan, Kerman, Kermanshah, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Markazi, Mazandaran, North Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, South Khorasan, Tehran, West Azerbaijan, and Yazd ( Khanjani & Kamali, 2000a, b, published as Pachylaelaps karawaiewi Berlese, 1920b ; Kamali et al., 2001; Ahmadi, 2002; Khademi et al., 2006; Seifori et al., 2006; Darvishzadeh & Kamali, 2009; Ahangaran et al., 2010; Rostami et al., 2010; Babaeian & Kazemi, 2011; Rajaei et al., 2011; Salarzehi et al., 2011; Soleimani et al., 2011; Ahadiyat & Cheraghali, 2012; Ahangaran et al., 2012; Alizadeh & Shirdel, 2012; Baroozeh & Ahadiyat, 2012; Khorsand et al., 2012; Mahpikaran et al., 2012; Zakeri et al., 2012; Kazemi & Rajaei, 2013; Arjomandi & Kazemi, 2014; Masnavipour et al., 2014; Zarei & Kazemi, 2014; Hasanvand et al., 2015; Abolghasemi & Kazemi, 2016; Maleki et al., 2016; Mohammad-Dustar-Sharaf et al., 2016; Abutaleb Kermani et al., 2017, Nemati et al., 2018; this paper).

World distribution. Asia ( Iran and Israel) ( Costa, 1971; Koroleva, 1977b; this paper), Europe ( Georgia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan) ( Karg, 1971, 1993; Koroleva, 1977b Salmane, 2001; Gwiazdowicz & Gulvik, 2005; Mašán, 2007; Mašán & Halliday, 2014).

Notes. Onchodellus karawaiewi shows the widest provincial distribution in Iran (in 18 provinces) with different climates. Here, we found it in five provinces (Alborz, Kerman, South Khorasan, Tehran, and Yazd), among them Yazd had the largest numbers of the specimens (30 females, 16 males). They were collected mostly from soil (including orchards, e.g. walnut, pomegranate, almond), and then from manure in croft, ant’ nest and leaf-litter. We found it in mid- to high-land areas at the altitudes between 1,466 (in South Khorasan Province) and 2,675 m a.s.l. (in Alborz Province). It is quite intriguing that this species can live in a wide range of altitudes from mid-land to high-land areas (1,466 –2,675 m a.s.l.).Although Nemati et al. (2018) mentioned that Hamidi et al. (2013) and Granpayeh & Ostovan (2014) have found this species in their researches, these two references had never reported any pachylaelapid mites. This species is an edaphic euryhygrophilous species found in a variety of habitats, including lowlands flood-plains of rivers, meadows, forests and reed vegetation in plant-litter, rotting vegetation, ants’ nests and rodents’ nests, humus, dark and peat soils ( Costa, 1971; Koroleva, 1977b; Karg, 1993; Mašán, 2007; Salmane & Brumelis, 2010). It prefers dark soils ( Karg, 1993; Mašán, 2007), and is not common in meadows ( Salmane & Brumelis, 2010).