PHYTOSEIID MITES (ACARI: PHYTOSEIIDAE) OF APPLE AND ALMOND TREES IN REGIONS OF WESTERN AND SOUTH-WESTERN IRAN

Eight phytoseiid species belonging to three genera were collected in apple and almond orchards from the Provinces of Hamedan, Kurdistan and Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari, in western and south-western Iran. Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) bagdasarjani Wainstein and Arutunjan, 1967 was the most abundant species, being collected from both plant species in the three provinces.


INTRODUCTION
In the western and south-western areas of Iran, apples, Malus domestica L. (Rosacea), are cultivated on more than 2,000 ha, with a total production of over 153,000 t, whereas almonds, Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D. A. Webb (Rosaceae), are cultivated on almost 14,000 ha with a total production of almost 13,000 t (Anonymous, 2009). Members of the phytophagous mite families Eriophyidae and Tetranychidae are important pests of those crops in Iranian orchards (Khanjani and Hadad Irani Nejad, 2006). Species of the mite family Phytoseiidae are important predators of eriophyids and tetranychids. More than 20 phytoseiid species are commercially reared for use as biological control agents of mites and small insects harmful to greenhouse and field crops worldwide (Chant and McMurtry, 2007;Gerson et al., 2003). Moraes et al. (2004) mentioned 39 phytoseiid species described and recorded from apple trees but none from almonds. Daneshvar and Denmark (1982) described T. (A.) iranensis and Ueckermann et al. (2009) redescribed Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) khosrovensis Arutunjan from apple trees in northwest Iran. In this study, the results of a survey conducted in apple and almond orchards during 2008-2010 in 3 provinces in western and south-western Iran are given.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was carried out in 8 commercial apple orchards in the Provinces of Hamedan and Kurdistan and in 7 commercial almond orchards in the Province of Chahar Mahale va Bakhtiari, in 2008-2010. Phytoseiid mites were collected by beating or shaking shoots over a white tray or by extracting them from samples of soil and fallen fruits in Berlese funnels. The mites were preserved in 70 % ethanol and then mounted on slides in Hoyer's medium (Walter and Krantz, 2009) for later examination under a Nomarski Interference Contrast Olympus microscope.
All measurements are given in micrometers with the means followed by the respective ranges in parentheses. A key to the species found in this survey is given. The classification systems used follows that of Chant and McMurtry (2007). The dorsal and ventral setal nomenclature is that of Rowell et al. (1978) and Chant and Yoshida-Shaul (1991). Idiosomal setal patterns are given according to Chant and Yoshida-Shaul (1992). All specimens are deposited in the Collection of the Acarology Laboratory, University of Bu-Ali Sina, Hamedan, Iran.
Peritreme -Apex of peritreme extending to level of z4.

Neoseiulus bicaudus (Wainstein)
Amblyseius bicaudus Wainstein, 1962: 146 Neoseiulus bicaudus, Congdon, 2002Moraes et al., 2004: 108 Remarks -The specimens examined are very similar to the original description of the species. However, 7 pairs of solenostomes are observed on the dorsal shield of the specimens examined but only 6 pairs are mentioned in the original description.
Peritreme -Apex of peritreme extending to level between setae j1 and j3.
Peritreme -Apex of peritreme extending to level of seta j1.

DISCUSSION
This survey showed that Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) bagdasarjani was the dominant of the eight species collected in apple and almond orchards in the three provinces ( Figure 1). The following step will be to evaluate these predators specially the dominant species for its effectiveness against important pest mite species of the families Tetranychidae and Eriophyidae in Iran. The aim is to reduce chemical control.