مشخصات پژوهش

Up to now, more than 265 eriophyoid species have been recorded from Iran, among them seven species belong to the family Phytoptidae Murray. This family contains five subfamilies; three of which, Nalepellinae Roivainen, Phytoptinae Murray and Sierraphytoptinae Keifer, have been previously recorded from Iran. Regarding the study of eriophyoid mites fauna of East Azerbaijan Province, samplings were carried out on plant species of Rosaceae and Polygonaceae. Their eriophyoid specimens were recovered using the modified washing method and were slide-mounted according to Baker et al. (1996). All morphological measurements were taken using a phase contrast microscope Olympus BX53 according to Amrine and Manson (1996) as modified by de Lillo et al. (2010). During this survey, the subfamily Novophytoptinae with two species were all recorded for the first time from Iran: Novophytoptus cf. rostratae Roivainen, 1947 from Rosa × damascena 144+ (pro sp.) + (Rosaceae) and N. stipae Keifer, 1962 from Rumex sp. (Polygonaceae). Since a few individuals of these species were found with no male specimens, it is speculated that none of these plants were the hosts of these mites and that their collection can be considered occasional. Further samplings are needed to find more specimens of all instars for both species.