Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) is a well-known mite family, and more than 2,700 species have been recorded worldwide. Prior this study, 64 phytoseiid species had been recorded in main island of Taiwan and its neighboring islands. Nevertheless, many areas are still unexplored and need further investigation, such as the Penghu Islands. The present study was based on phytoseiid mite materials collected from the Penghu Islands in 1989 and 2020. A list of identified phytoseiid mites is provided herein, 16 species, eight genera, and three subfamilies. Proprioseiopsis penghuensis sp. nov. and Neoseiulus xiaomenensis sp. nov. are new to science, and Amblyseius cinctus Corpuz-Raros & Rimando, A. fletcheri Schicha, Phytoseius rachelae Swirski & Shechter are new records for the country. The further comprehensive phytoseiid investigation in Penghu Islands is needed for exploring the relationships among environmental and agricultural changes, and phytoseiid mites.

Two little known species of the genus Neoseiulus Hughes, N. plantagenis (Kolodochka) and N. tervus Meshkov are redescribed based on the specimens collected from grass-soil in North Caucasus, and Tyumen province, Russia, respectively. In addition, Neoseiulus caucasicus Döker & Khaustov sp. nov. is described based on the adult females which were also collected from grass-soil in North Caucasus, Russia.

Three new species of the oribatid mite family Oppiidae are described from soil and coniferous litter of Hogsback State Forest, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Brachioppia bituberculatasp. nov. differs from its related species, Brachioppia excrescens and B. louwi, by the localization of cilia on the bothridial head and length and placement of dorsal notogastral setae. Kokoppia macrotuberculatasp. nov. differs from its related species, Kokoppia longisetosa, by the body length, the length of notogastral setae, the localization of notogastral setae la and lm, and the presence of interbothridial macrotubercle. Pletzenoppia ethiopicasp. nov. differs from its related species, Pletzenoppia pletzenae, by the body length, different number of cilia on bothridial seta, the relative length of prodorsal setae, the localization of notogastral setae la and lm, and the absence of interbothridial tubercle. An identification key to known species of Pletzenoppia is presented.

Two new tetranychine spider mites are described from Astragalus in Iran: Tetranychus neosalsolaesp. nov. and Augeriflechtmannia astragalussp. nov. The possible close relationship between the new species prompted us to review the genus AugeriflechtmanniaKoçak & Kemal, 2008—formerly DiplonychusAuger & Flechtmann, 2003. We refine the genus diagnosis and move Tetranychus armeniacaBagdasarian, 1951 and Tetranychus iraniensis Mahdavi & Ueckermann, 2013 to Augeriflechtmannia and discuss the possible synonymy of these species. The genus now comprises five species from Armenia, Iran and Tunisia.

The predatory mite Neoseiulus barkeri (Acari: Phytoseiidae), which is one of the best natural enemies, has been used as a biological control agent against multiple insect pests, such as spider mite, Tetranychus urticae and thrips. Its growth and development were affected by the environmental temperature changes. This study was conducted to evaluate the hatching rate of the eggs and the immature developmental times of N. barkeri after incubation of the eggs under heat stress at 38, 40 and 42°C, 85% ± 5% RH and a 16h:8h light: dark (L:D) photoperiod for 2, 4 and 6h. After adult females emerged, they were treated under the same conditions again, and the parameters such as oviposition period, fecundity and female longevity were observed. The results showed that with the increase of the temperature and the extension of the duration of the heat stress, the hatching rate was lower. The eggs treated at 42°C for 2h or more could not hatch, and the developmental duration of each immature stage showed a trend of decreasing at first and then increasing. The fastest development was observed after incubation of eggs at 40°C for 2h, and the shortest developmental duration was 4.60d. Under the condition of 38°C, the oviposition period and life span of adult females were shortened with the extension of treatment time, and the fecundity decreased at first and then increased. At 40°C, the fecundity, oviposition period and longevity of adult females showed a trend of gradual increase with the extension of treatment time. The shortest oviposition period, the lowest fecundity and the shortest life span of adult females were 12.14d, 18.92 eggs and 16.65d, respectively after incubation of eggs at 40°C, for 2h. Therefore, the short-term heat stress had a significant effect on the hatching rate and the duration of the immature stage, and also had a negative effect on the fecundity, oviposition period and longevity of adult females. In rearing and field release, heat stress should be avoided as much as possible to achieve the best predation and control effect of N. barkeri.

The family Myobiidae Mégnin, 1878 includes permanent parasites of the fur of different orders of mammals. Because the information on this family is scarce and scattered, in this work, we compile the available information on Myobiidae in Mexico. In total, we recorded 41 species (one undetermined, one a species inquirenda) belonging to 13 genera and three subfamilies, associated with four orders of mammals: Chiroptera, Didelphimorphia, Rodentia and Soricomorpha. We also reported for the first time in Mexico Eudusbabekia jimenezi (Dusbábek, 1967) and E. saguei (Dusbábek, 1967), parasitizing bats of the family Mormoopidae in the States of Colima, Nayarit and San Luis Potosí, and Acanthophthirius lasiurus (Fain & Whitaker, 1976) associated with the bat Lasiurus cinereus (Palisot de Beauvois) (family Vespertilionidae) in Ciudad de México. We recorded new associations with bat hosts: E. proviriliaMorales-Malacara, Guzmán-Cornejo & López-Ortega, 2002 with Leptonycteris yerbabuenae Martínez & Villa (Phyllostomidae); E. saguei with Pteronotus davyi Gray (Mormoopidae), and Ioannela leptonycteris (Fain, 1973) with L. yerbabuenae. In this work, Zacaltepetla hoffmannaeBasurto-R., 1973 is treated as a species inquirenda for the first time. We also provide an identification key to the genera and species of Myobiidae found in Mexico.

The morphological ontogeny of Eremobelba geographicaBerlese, 1908 is described and illustrated. This species was investigated mainly in ecological and biological aspects. It inhabits forest soils and cultivated areas, but is not abundant, and adults dominate in extracted samples. In the juveniles, the prodorsal seta in is short, and the bothridial seta is setiform. The nymphs are quadrideficient and eupheredermous, i.e. they carry exuvial scalps of the previous instars, using a cornicle. Paraproctal setae occur in all juvenile instars, which is rare in Brachypylina, and hypertrichy occurs in the aggenital region of the deutonymph, tritonymph and adult, and adanal region of the adult. In all instars, seta d on all genua and tibiae is present, except for tibia I of adult.

The present study is based on the oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) phoretic on passalid beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea, Passalidae) from the Afrotropical and Oriental regions. Nine identified mite species (phoretic on ten beetle species) are registered; of these, three species (from Congo, Gabon and Ghana) are new to science: Graptoppia (Stenoppia) boucherisp. nov. (Oppiidae), Perscheloribates (Perscheloribates) gabonensissp. nov. (Scheloribatidae) and Vilhenabates paraambohitrasp. nov. (Haplozetidae). An identification key to the known species of Graptoppia (Stenoppia) is given. Data on the registered phoretic relationships between Oribatida and Passalidae are summarized.

Crocus sativus L. (Iridaceae) known as saffron is the most commercially important medicinal food product in Iran and worldwide because of its significance for exporting commercial. However, the health of this plant is adversely threatened by abiotic and biotic stress. Bulb mite Rhizoglyphus robini Claparede (Acari: Acaridae) as abiotic stress is oligophagous and the main pest of tuber plants, commonly found in all the cultivated saffron producing areas could decrease saffron economic value. The mites tunnel through corms allowing the entry of fungal and bacterial pathogens. The widespread use of commercial pesticides in modern agriculture to protect crops from pests has caused significant public concern because of their side impacts on the environment and non-target species. Nanotechnology has been used in the production, processing, storage, packaging, and transport of agricultural products. Newly, oxide nanoparticles have been introduced as novel pesticides against pests and fertilizer. This study was conducted as an effective and environmentally-friendly method to control the growth of Rhizoglyphus robini. The lethal and sublethal effects of metal oxide nanoparticles (MNPs) including nano copper oxides (nano-CuO), nano magnesium oxide (nano-MgO), nano zinc oxide (nano-ZnO), nano titanium dioxide (nano-TiO₂), and nano iron oxide (nano-Fe₂O₃) which their lethal concentrations ranged between 159.2 and 1036.4 mg L^-1 were studied on Rhizoglyphus robini adult females. The contact effect of the tested MNPs was evaluated using the corm dip bioassay method. Assays showed that the contact toxicity of the nano-CuO treatment (229.1 mg L^-1) was higher than other MNPs. To assess the sublethal effects of the MNPs, adult females were exposed to the LC₂₅ concentration of MNPs, and life history and life-table parameters of the surviving Rhizoglyphus robini were investigated. The exposure to sublethal concentrations of the tested MNPs prolonged the egg incubation, larval period, and nymphal period significantly when compared to the control mites. Compared to other MNPs or control mite, nano-MgO and nano-TiO₂ led to the longest duration of the total immature stages (11.32 and 11.32, respectively). The net reproductive rate (R₀), the intrinsic rate of increase (r_m), the finite rate of increase (λ), and the generation time (T) were significantly different between control and MNP treatments. The population exposed to ZnO-, MgO-, and TiO₂-nanoformulations had a much lower r_m value (0.164, 0.164, and 0.171 d^-1, respectively) compared to the control population (0.231 d^-1) and those exposed to Fe₃O₄- and CuO-nanoformulations (1.19 and 1.19 d^-1, respectively). According to our findings, all tested MNPs, especially CuO-, ZnO-, and MgO-nano formulations, have a potential application for use in the management of Rhizoglyphus robini.

A new tanaupodid mite, Lassenia newellisp. nov. is described based on a larva parasitising the aphid Myzocallis coryli (Goeze, 1778) (Aphididae) in Scotland, Great Britain. It is the ninth species of Lassenia known from the larval stage, the second host association for the genus and the first one for which the specific affiliation of both the parasite and its host is provided. The finding contributes to the taxonomy and biology of Tanaupodidae which have been considered to form one of the basal clades of Parasitengona. The discovery of elongate seta on the dorsal surface of tarsus III in L. newelli, a characteristic also shared by the monotypic Amphotrombium, supports the hypothesis of possible links between the tanaupodids and amphotrombiids as early derivative taxa of parasitengone mites.

The gall mite, Aceria pallida Keifer (Acari: Eriophyoidae) is an economically important pest of wolfberry Lycium barbarum L. and can cause significant losses to plant production. Two species of phytoseiid predatory mites, Amblyseius andersoni Chant and Neoseiulus neoreticuloides Liang & Hu were found on L. barbarum in Bayan Nur city, Inner Mongolia, China. We assessed the potential of these two phytoseiid species as biological control agents against A. pallida, using functional response experiments with seven prey densities (5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 adults of A. pallida) on a wolfberry leaf under 25°C ± 1°C, 60% ± 5% RH and a 16:8 h (L:D) photoperiod. Overall, the predation of both species increased with increase in prey density. The consumption of A. andersoni female was significantly greater than that of conspecific males and N. neoreticuloides female at high prey densities. Both phytoseiid species displayed a type II functional response to A. pallida. Female A. andersoni had a higher attack rate (5.961) and a shorter handling time (0.014 d) than male A. andersoni (1.619; 0.019 d) and female N. neoreticuloides (0.719; 0.023 d). The maximum attack rate (T/T_h) was estimated to be 71.43 and 52.63 for female and male A. andersoni, respectively, while it was 43.48 for female N. neoreticuloides. Both female and male A. andersoni consistently consumed significantly more prey than N. neoreticuloides across all densities of A. pallida adults.

We report on one new cecidophyine species, Cecidophyes fibigiaen. sp. from Fibigia clypeata (L.) Medik. (Brassicaceae) and three new combinations and seven new records of phyllocoptine mites in Crimea: Abacarus hystrix (Nalepa 1896) from Elytrigia elongata (Host) Nevski (Poaceae), Aculodes cf holcusiSkoracka 2004 from Aegilops biuncialis Vis. (Poaceae), Aculops coronillae (Canestrini & Massalongo, 1893) n. comb. from Securigera varia (L.) Lassen (Fabaceae), Aculops longifilis (Canestrini 1891) n. comb. from Onobrychis miniata (Kit.) DC. (Fabaceae), Aculus sp. from Galium humifusum M.Bieb. (Rubiaceae), Anthocoptes recki (Bagdasarian, 1972) from Pistacia atlantica subsp. mutica (Fisch. & C.A. Mey.) (Anacardiaceae), and Anthocoptes thymi (Nalepa) n. comb. from Thymus callieri Borb. ex Velen. (Lamiaceae). Partial mitochondrial Cox1 sequences (about 1150 bp) of all found species were obtained (GB accession numbers MW439274–MW439282).