A Preliminary Study on Mite Fauna of Bird Nests in Iran

A survey on mite fauna of bird nests was carried out in Tehran, Golestan and Sistan & Baluchestan provinces in 2008. A total of 18 nests belonging to six bird species, namely Rock Dove Columba livia, House Sparrow Passer domesticus, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Hippolais (Iduna) pallida, White-eared Bulbul Pycnonotus leucotis, Common Magpie Pica pica and Crested Lark Galerida cristata were collected. Samples were processed by modified Berlese funnel. After extraction, ten mite species from nine families of three orders (Sarcoptiformes, Trombidiformes and Mesostigmata) and three suborders (Oribatida, Prostigmata and Monogynaspida) were identified as follow: Acarus siro Linnaeus, 1758, Lepidoglyphus destructor (Schrank, 1781), Suidasia nesbitti Hughes, 1948, Acaropsellina sollers (Kuzin, 1940), Cheyletus malaccensis Oudemans, 1903, Cheyletus carnifex Zachvatkin, 1935, Eutogenes foxi Baker, 1949, Tetranychus urticae Koch, 1836, Cenopalpus sp. and Lasioseius penicilliger Berlese, 1916. In this study, the mite fauna were dominated by the species S. nesbitti from the family Suidasiidae and T. urticae from the family Tetranychidae. Introduction Arthropods are associated with bird nests. Mites from birds have been studied extensively around the world (Fain & Philip 1977, Masan & Orszaghova 1995, Gwiazdowicz et al. 2000). Several species of birds’ mites are parasites and are usually found on the bodies or at nests of birds (Bochkov & Fain 2003, Bloszyk et al. 2006). In addition, bird nests serve as habitat for some of astigmatic mites. A large number of species of this group are stored product mites (Acaridae, Glycyphagidae, etc.) and house dust mites (Pyroglyphidae). The most abundant and most often occurring Acaridae species are Acarus siro L., 1758, A. farris (Oudemans, 1905), Aleuroglyphus ovatus, (Troupeau, 1878), Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank, 1781), Cosmoglyphus oudemansi (Zachvatkin, 1937) and Caloglyphus oudemansi (Michael, 1903); from Glycyphagidae,e Lepidoglyphus destructor (Schrank, 1781), Glycyphagus domesticus (De Geer, 1778) and Blomia freemani Hughes, 1948; from Pyroglyphidae Dermatophagoides farinae Hughes, 1961 and from Suidasiidae Suidasia nesbitti Hughes, 1948 and Suidasia medanensis Oudemans, 1924 (Sinha 1968, Mahmood 1992, Putatunda 2002, Athanassiou et al. 2003). Our knowledge on the association between bird and mites in Iran is very limited. This report focuses on recording mite fauna of bird nests. Materials and Methods A total of 18 bird nests was examined for the co-occurrence of, and the relationship with, injurious mites where cereal products were stored and in adjacent areas. Samples were collected from silos, flour-mills, farms around stored wheat and gardens in Tehran, Golestan and Sistan & Baluchestan provinces in 2008. Whole nests of six bird species namely, Rock Dove Columba livia, House Sparrow Passer domesticus, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler Hippolais (Iduna) pallida, White-eared Bulbul Pycnonotus leucotis, Common Magpie Pica pica and Crested Lark Galerida cristaca were examined (Table 1). Mites were extracted from the nests by using modified Berlese funnels and extracted mites transferred into 70% ethyl alcohol (Krantz & Walter 2009). Specimens were cleared in lactophenol and mounted on glass slides using Hoyer's medium. Podoces, 2010, 5(2): 112–115 113 Table 1. Bird species and locality of sampling in Iran. Bird species Province Location Habitat Total of nest examined Number of nest with mites Passer domesticus Tehran Garden Cupresus sempervirensis tree 4 2 Hippolais (Iduna) pallida Tehran Garden Cupresus sempervirensis tree 5 2 Columba livia Tehran Flour-mill Inside the storage 1 1 Columba livia Tehran Silo Outside the storage 2 1 Pycnonotus leucotis Sistan & Baluchestan Farm Unknown tree 3 1 Pica pica Golestan Farm Olive tree 2 2 Galerida cristata Golestan Farm Olive tree 1 1