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Abstract
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Stigmaeidae is the largest family within Raphignathoidea which was established by Oudemans (1931). Members of this family are predators and feed on arthropods, ectoparasites of dipterans and pollen feeders and occur all over the world (Fan & Zhang, 2005). This family currently contains 32 genera, of which 12 genera have been recorded from Iran (Beyzavi et al., 2013). To date, 8 species of the genus Cheylostigmaeus, 18 species of the genus Eustigmaeus, 7 species of the genus Ledermuelleriopsisand 29 species of the genus Stigmaeushave been recorded from Iran. During 2011-2013, fauna of the family Stigmaeidae in Alashtar town was studied. In this order, samples were collected from litter and soil under common reed, hawthorn, gum, oak, wild almond, common fig trees, pear trees and taken to the laboratory. Mites extracted by Berlese funnel and mounted directly in Hoyer’s medium. In total 6 species, belonging to 4 different genera were identified. Among them,Cheylostigmaeus howellsiand Stigmaeus pilatuswere found in populations on common reed plants and oak trees, respectively. Identified species are listed as follow: genus Cheylostigmaeus Willmann, 1951:C. howellsiEvans, 1954; genus Eustigmaeus Berlese, 1910:E. dogani Khanjani et al., 2014; E. segnis (Koch, 1836); genus Ledermuelleriopsis Willmann, 1953;L. zahirii Khanjani & Ueckermann, 2002; genusStigmaeus Koch, 1836:S. boshroyehensis Khanjani et al., 2010; S. pilatus Kuznetzov, 1978.
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