Phytoseiidae (Chant and McMurtry, 2007)

Negm, Mohamed Waleed, Mohamed, Azza Abdelgawad, Mohamed, B Hosam, B, Mohamed Khalil El-Gepaly & B, Safaa Mohamed Abdelaziz, 2018, Mesostigmata mites (Acari: Parasitiformes) associated with birds and their nests from Egypt, Turkish Journal of Zoology 42 (6), pp. 722-731 : 730

Family Phytoseiidae

Most of the phytoseiid mites reported in the present study were separated from the nests of the house sparrow (Table), a passerine host. This finding agrees with that of Fend’a (2010), who collected 26 phytoseiid mite species from the nests of passerine birds in Slovakia. Makarova et al. (2010) also reported one phytoseiid species from a passerine nest in Russia. However, a few individuals are reported from the manure under pern and Egyptian kestrel in the Animal Zoo of the Giza governorate. Phytoseiid mites are cosmopolitan predators of plant pest mites, and their occurrence with birds is questionable. Mite presence could be accidentally due to direct contact between the nests and the plant canopy. Amblyseius swirskii Athias- Henriot, 1962, a potential predatory mite used for the biological control of spider mites and some insects, was recorded in very low populations inside the nest of P. domesticus niloticus . A single individual of Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes, 1948 was reported inhabiting manure of Egyptian kestrel. However, the unexpected presence of Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) transvaalensis (Nesbitt) and T. (Typhlodromus) athiasae Porath & Swirski in high numbers in the house sparrow nests means the type of relationship needs further investigation.

Superfamily Uropodoidea

In the present survey, a few specimens of the genera Uroobovella ( Urodinychidae ) and Uropoda ( Uropodidae ) were reported from the manures of peacock, ostrich, and chicken in the Animal Zoo of the Giza governorate. Unfortunately, the mites could not be further identified to the species level because of the poor status of specimens. Maareg and Saleh (1989) also reported the earthworm uropodid mite, Fuscuropoda agitans (= Uropoda agitans )