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Abstract
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The genus Aculus is one of the most numerous genera within the Eriophyoidea and is represented
by more than 297 species worldwide. Thirty Aculus species were found on Fabaceae plants.
Thirtheen Aculus species were recorded from Iran and three of them were collected from Fabaceae
plants: A. medicager Xue, Sadeghi, Hong & Sinai, 2012 from Medicago sativa L. in Mashhad city
of Razavi Khorasan Province, A. semenovi (Shevtchenko, Marikovski & Shamsutdinova, 1973)
from Sophora alopecuroides L. and A. lorestaniensis Lotfollahi, Hayatolgheyb, Jafari & Shakarami,
2017 from Glycyrrhiza glabra L. in Naghare village of Lorestan province. During the study of plant
samples of Trifolium pratense L. (Fabaceae) collected in the Iranian historical village of Kandovan
in the Osku region, Iran, on August 2011, eriophyoid mites were recovered by means of a modified
washing method. The mites were slide mounted according to Baker et al. (1996). All morphological
measurements were taken by means of a phase contrast microscope Olympus BX53 according to
Amrine and Manson (1996) as modified by de Lillo et al. (2010). The mites were identified as a
species belong to Aculus genus, Aculus sp. nov. The mites were vagrant and no apparent damage
was observed. This eriophyid species appeared to be relatively larger than the other Aculus species
and to have dispersed triangular microtubercules on the annuli. The new species is similar to A.
chamaespartii Carmona, 1974 from Genista tridentata L. in Portugal, A. sarothamni Boczek, 1961
from Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link in Poland and A. trifolii Natcheff, 1979 from Trifolium pratense L.
in Bulgaria, in having smooth prodorsal shield. But the new species is easily distinguishable from
them in shape and distribution of ventral microtubercles (disperse triangular in the new species
versus dense rounded microtubercles in the others), female genitalia coverflap ornamentation (with
4–5 teardrop shape fait spots in the new species versus striae in the others) a
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