Eryngiopus langroudiensis n. sp. (Acari: Stigmaeidae) from Guilan, Iran

Eryngiopus langroudiensis n. sp. (Acari: Stigmaeidae) is described and illustrated, based on females collected from soil under citrus trees and on citrus leaves in the cities of Langroud, Chaboksar and Vajargan, Guilan province, Iran. The citrus trees where this species was found were also infested by pest mites Panonychus citri (McGregor), Brevipalpus obovatus Donnadieu and by scale insects.


INTRODUCTION
Members of the genus Eryngiopus (Acari: Stigmaeidae) were found in soil and on foliage, and are reported to feed on armoured scale crawlers and on spider mites (Ehara 1962;Vacante and Gerson 1989;Farag et al. 1990;Fan and Zhang 2005;Khanjani et al. 2013). Up to now three species of the genus Eryngiopus are recorded from Iran, namely: E. gracilis Summers, 1964, from citrus orchards in Mazandaran (Faraji and Kamali 1993), E. harteni Van-Dis and Ueckermann, 1993, on citrus leaves, trunk and soil under palm trees in Kerman (Dehghan-Dolati et al. 2011) and E. hamedanicus Khanjani, Mohammadi, Nazari andKhanjani, 2013 (Khanjani et al. 2014), from soil under pear trees, Negarkhaton Village, Famenin town, Hamedan province, Iran. The fourth species, herein described, was sampled in soil under citrus trees and on citrus leaves in Guilan province.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The specimens were collected from soil under citrus trees and on citrus leaves infested by the citrus red mite, Panonychus citri (McGregor); the privet mite, Brevipalpus obovatus Donnadieu and by scale insects, including the yellow scale, Aonidiella citrina (Coquillett); western red scale, Chrysomphalus dictyospermi (Morgan); mussel scale Lepidosaphes beckii (Newman); cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi (Maskell) and the soft brown scale, Coccus hesperidum L. The citrus orchards were localized in the cities Langroud, Chaboksar and Vajargah,Guilan province (37°16'38.64"N,49°35'20.4"E), Northern Iran. The mites were mounted directly in Hoyer's medium on slides, then kept in an oven (45°C) for 5-6 days. The specimens were measured, identified and drawn by means of an Olympus BX 51 differential interference contrast microscope (DIC), under 1000X magnification, and equipped with a drawing tube. Body length measurements represent the distance between the base of the gnathosoma and the posterior end of the idiosoma; width was measured at the level of setae c2. Setae were measured from the setal base to their tips; distances between setae were measured between setal bases. Leg measurements are from base of coxa to the tip of the pretarsus.
The terminology and abbreviations used in the description follow Kethley (1990). All measurements are given in micrometers and the measurements of the paratype are in parentheses.
Etymology -The species is named after the locality where most of specimens were collected, Langroud city, in Guilan province, Iran.
Male and immature stages: Unknown.