Species composition of tetranychoid mites (Acari: Trombidiformes: Prostigmata: Tetranychoidea) in main landscapes of Tehran and modelling ecological niche of Tetranychoidea in main climates of Tehran Province, Iran

Abstract

Tetranychoid communities from urban landscapes of Tehran area were compared in 2012. The landscapes covering two main climates of Tehran Province and the related regions were mostly planted with Ulmus, Platanus, Ficus and Morus trees. A total of 259 mite specimens, belonging to two families, were collected. Cenopalpus meyerae was the dominant species in Lavizan Forest Park, Qeytariyeh, Taleqani, Laleh, Besat and Golbon parks with 96.1%, 89.6%, 85.72%, 64.86%, 40% and 32%, respectively, while in Chitgar Forest Park, Tetranychus urticae and C. meyerae had the highest dominancy with 40%. Among the species, C. meyerae, Tetranychus sp., T. urticae and Eotetranychus sp. were found in most of parks. Eutetranychus orientalis, Eu. africanus and Eutetranychus sp. were only found in Golbon Park with mainly ornamental plants; and Mononychellus sp. occurred occurred in Laleh Park and only found on Ficus species. Modelling of ecological niches by support vector machines method showed the most suitable areas for each species. Accuracy of the model according to maximum Kappa value and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values were high