Acarological Studies Vol 3 (2): 56-65 doi: 10.47121/acarolstud.865260 RESEARCH ARTICLE Raphignathoid mites (Acariformes: Raphignathoidea) in parts of the Azerbaijan provinces of Iran Mojtaba MOHAMMAD-DOUSTARESHARAF 1,2 , Mohammad BAGHERI 1 1 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran 2 Corresponding author: mojtaba.doostar@gmail.com Received: 20 January 2021 Accepted: 28 March 2021 Available online: 31 July 2021 ABSTRACT: While performing a faunistic study on the superfamily Raphignathoidea of northwestern Iran, north parts of east Azerbaijan and southwest parts of west Azerbaijan provinces during 2016-2018, a total number of 40 species in 13 genera belonging to the superfamily were collected and identified. Among them, four species: Stigmaeus luxtoni Wood, 1981; Ledermuelleriopsis sezeki Doğan, 2004; Eustigmaeus gulingensis Hu and Chen, 1996 and Molothrognathus kamili Doğan, 2003 have been recorded for the first time from Iran. Keywords: Acari, fauna, predatory, new record, Azerbaijan, northwestern Iran. Zoobank: http://zoobank.org/57B66053-9AD1-4C78-ADA6-83AC029A284A INTRODUCTION The predatory mites of the superfamily Raphignathoidea Kramer, 1877 (Acari: Trombidiformes: Prostigmata) are mostly known as biological control agents of small inver- tebrates such as eriophyid, spider and false spider mites and some small insects. Also, some species of these mites are probably the second most important species of plant mite predators after Phytoseiidae especially when the densities of phytoseiid mites are low (Gerson et al., 2003; Fan and Zhang, 2005; Fan and Flechtmann, 2015). Currently, raphignathoid mites include about 1087 spe- cies of 69 genera in 12 families (Beron, 2020). Until now, seven families, 23 genera and 222 species of this group of mites have been described and reported from Iran, name- ly: Barbutiidae Robaux (one genus, four species); Ca- ligonellidae Grandjean (five genera, 26 species); Camerobiidae Southcott (two genera, 23 species); Cryp- tognathidae Oudemans (two genera, 19 species); Eupalopsellidae Willmann (one genus, seven species); Raphignathidae Kramer (one genus, 29 species); Stigmae- idae Oudemans (11 genera, 114 species) (Bagheri and Mohammad-Doustaresharaf, 2020; Mohammad- Doustaresharaf and Bagheri, 2021; Pishehvar and Khan- jani, 2021; Rostami and Mohammad-Doustaresharaf, 2021). In this study, a total number of 40 species in 13 genera within the superfamily Raphignathoidea have been col- lected; four of them: Stigmaeus luxtoni Wood, 1981; Le- dermuelleriopsis sezeki Doğan, 2004; Eustigmaeus gu- lingensis Hu and Chen, 1996 and Molothrognathus kamili Doğan, 2003 are new records for the Iranian fauna. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sampling procedure Many samples collected during 2016-2018, from various habitats such as soil and litter, rotten wood, the aerial parts of the crops, orchards and weeds of different re- gions of studied area. Mite specimens were extracted using Berlese-Tullgren funnel, preserved in 70% ethanol, cleared in Nesbitt’s fluid/lactophenol solution, mounted in Hoyer’s medium and studied using BX41 light micro- scope with phase-contrast device. All examined materials are deposited in the Acarology Laboratory, Plant Protec- tion Department, Agricultural Faculty, University of Ma- ragheh, Iran (UMI). Study area The study area is located in north-western Iran and in- cluding two provinces: East Azerbaijan and West Azerbai- jan. Sampling were taken from different localities in two counties of north parts of East Azerbaijan namely Jolfa and Khoda Afarin and five counties of sothwestern parts of West Azerbaijan namely Urmia, Sardasht, Piranshahr, Mahabad, Oshnaviyeh. The locations of the sampled cities are shown in Figure 1. RESULTS and DISCUSSION Superfamily Raphignathoidea Family Caligonellidae Grandjean, 1944 Genus Caligonella Berlese, 1910 Caligonella haddadi Bagheri and Maleki, 2013 This species was originally described from leaf litter un- der walnut (Juglans sp.) from Iran (Bagheri et al., 2013b). It was also recorded from Turkey (Yamaç, 2019; Doğan and Doğan, 2020c). Material examined: Two females, soil and litter, Khoda Afarin (Kalaleh) (38° 56′ 42″ N, 46° 45' 43'' E, 1380 m), 27 August 2018; four females, soil and litter, Khoda Afarin (Abbas Abad) (37° 55′ 46″ N, 46° 47' 88'' E, 1310 m), 4 July 2017; two females, soil, Urmia (Qare Aqaj) (37° 27′ 53″ N, 45° 09' 19'' E, 1302 m), 24 July 2018; coll. M. Mo- hammad-Doustaresharaf.