Abstract: Mites are ubiquitous in distribution and are reported to be present almost in all the habitats. A great number of stored grains, dried fruits, various farinaceous products and stored foods are often attacked by various types of mites. A faunistic survey of mites was conducted in many stored food stores during research work from December 2014 to November 2017 in Kashmir (India). A total of 2400 samples of ten stored foods i.e. almonds (Prunus dulcis), dry coconut (Cocos nucifera), groundnuts (Arachis hypogaea), maize (Zea mays), mustard (Brassica juncea), rice (Oryza sativa), walnuts (Juglans regia), wheat (Triticum aestivum), wheat flour (Triticum aestivum) and white gram (Cicer arietinum) were collected and examined for the mite fauna exploration. Twenty samples (each of 25 grams) of each stored food were collected per season, i.e. Winter (December to February), Spring (March to April), Summer (May to August) and Autumn (September to November). A total of 439 samples (18.29%) were mite positive. A total of nineteen mite species belonging to three orders, eleven families and fourteen genera were reported. A total of 5746 mite specimens were obtained. The mite species Acarus siro (Linnaeus, 1758) was reported in samples of 5 (50%) stored food types. A total of 58 samples (13.1%) out of the 439 mite positive samples were positive for Acarus siro specimens. A total of 974 (16.95%) specimens of Acarus siro were obtained out of the total 5746 mite specimens. Acarus siro was the second most frequent and abundant species found in stored foods after the Tyrophagus putrescentiae Schrank.
Keywords: Stored foods, Mites, Acarus siro, Occurrence, Abundance.
Title: A STUDY ON THE OCCURRENCE AND ABUNDANCE OF MITE Acarus siro L. (Acari: Acaridae) REPORTED FROM THE SAMPLES OF SOME STORED FOODS IN KASHMIR (INDIA)
Author: Navpreet Kaur Gill, Mohd Yousuf Paray
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
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