A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON ACARINE FAUNA INHABITING IN DIFFERENT MUSHROOMS FROM WESTERN GHATS, CALICUT, KERALA

The Western Ghats of India is recognized as one of the eight ‘hottest hotspots’ that contain exceptional levels of endemicity and biological diversity. Although a variety of macro fungi have been reported from the Western Ghats its association with mites was studied for the first time. Occurrence of a total number of 24 species of mites belonging to 18 genera, 11 families, and 3 orders were reported from seventeen different mushroom species. Out of these, the highest diversity of mites was seen in case of order Mesostigmata followed by Astigmata and Prostigmata. Among the identified species, species like Kleemania plumosus, Histeostoma feraniarum, Cunaxa andrei, Neocunaxoides sp., Psuedoparasitus sp. and Zerconopsis sp. were reported for the first time in India on mushrooms. Highest diversity of mites was noticed from mushroom Lenzites sp. with a total of ten mites species followed by Chlorophyllum molybdits with four species.