مشخصات پژوهش

The oribatid mite family Arborichthoniidae (infraorder Enarthronota) has been represented by a single species, Arborichthonius styosetosus Norton, 1982, known from a few, isolated collections in forested regions of North America, China and Japan. Herein, we describe a second species, Arborichthonius azarbaijaniensis Lotfollahi & Movahedzade sp. nov., on the basis of a single adult collected from agricultural soil, below the disturbed layer of a wheat field in the Marand region, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. It is easily distinguishable from the type species by several characters relating to setal form, and represents the first record of Arborichthoniidae from the Middle East. The first distribution record of A. styosetosus from New Hampshire (USA), as well as notes on morphological variation, is also presented.