Persian Journal of Acarology

Abstract One new species of eriophyoid mite, Notallus phlomicosae Lotfollahi & Bahirai sp. nov., associated with Phlomis fruticosa L. (Lamiaceae) is described and illustrated from Lorestan province of Iran. It is the first record of a Notallus species on plants of Lamiaceae. In addition, a key to the known Notallus mite species worldwide, table of morphological comparison among them and figures of their prodorsal shield patterns are provided.

Abstract The spatial and temporal distribution of Eotetranychus frosti (McGregor), Cenopalpus irani Dosse, and their dominant predator Typhlodromus bagdasarjani Wainstein & Arutunjan were studied in an unsprayed apple orchard in Chaghalvandi region (Lorestan Province, Iran) during 2012. The population densities of these phytophagous mites and their predator were monitored from 3^th May to 4^th November 2012. For this purpose, samplings were done 17 times and at each of them, mite counts were made on 60 leaves (i.e. sampling unit). The spatial distribution pattern of E. frosti, C. irani and T. bagdasarjani was determined by using Taylor’s power law method. Calculated RV (relative variation) and reliable sample size for the 25% variation from preliminary sampling for E. frosti were 16.22% and 53.86, respectively. The results demonstrated that population fluctuations of E. frosti and T. bagdasarjani passed through two peaks whereas C. irani had only one peak. The highest densities were observed on 23^th August (28.68 per leaf), 11^th September (28.88 per leaf) and 11^th August (1.18 per leaf) for E. frosti, C. irani and T. bagdasarjani, respectively. The slopes of Taylor's power law were significantly greater than 1 indicating aggregated spatial distributions in the E. frosti and C. irani, but T. bagdasarjani had b= 1, indicating random distribution. Our findings disclosed a positive correlation between population fluctuations of the two phytophagous mites and the predator, indicating a density-dependent reaction of predator to prey densities. The relationship between meteorological parameters and the three mite populations studied showed that the effect of temperature was insignificant, whereas the effect of relative humidity was significantly negative.

Abstract Thrips tabaci Lindeman is a serious pest of cucumber and onion in field and greenhouse conditions in Iran. Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes is an indigenous biological control agent in west of Iran on cucumber and maize that preys on spider mites and T. tabaci and can prevent the outbreak of them. In this study, the demographic parameters of the Iranian population of N. barkeri were determined using 1^st instar larvae of T. tabaci as prey under laboratory conditions at 30±1°C,65±5% RH and photoperiod 8:16 h (D:L). The results showed that N. barkeri successfully developed on 1^st instars larvae of T. tabaci. The developmental times for egg, larva, protonymph, deutonymph and all immature stages were 1.37, 1.03, 1.54, 1.71 and 5.68 days, respectively. Also, 96.66% of eggs hatched and the survival rate for the movable immature stages were 100%. Total prey consumption by protonymphs, deutonymphs and adult female was 2.70, 3.57 and 75.85 individuals, respectively. Adult longevity of the male was recorded as 14.36 days while the females lived longer (20.17 days). The female ratio was 0.62%. The intrinsic rate of increase (r_m) and the net reproductive rate (R₀) were 0.252 day^-1 and 18.70 female offspring, respectively. Our results showed that N. barkeri could be considered as a biological agent for the control of T. tabaci on cucumber. Expanding knowledge on the biological parameters of this predatory mite can help to increase the use of this indigenous biological agent for the control of T. tabaci on cucumber.