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Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is recognized as one of the most innovative types of concrete, notable for its exceptional strength and durability. This type of concrete is composed of essential components such as cement, silica fume, quartz powder, silica sand, superplasticizer, and water. Due to its superior mechanical properties, RPC is widely utilized in specialized projects and structures that require outstanding strength and durability. However, the high cost of its components, particularly quartz powder, significantly increases the overall production cost, limiting its widespread application in larger, cost-sensitive projects. Quartz powder is scarce in the Azerbaijan region of Iran and is often sourced from mines in Hamedan and Isfahan. By replacing it with more locally available, affordable materials, final production costs can be reduced. To address this issue and optimize the use of available resources, the possibility of substituting quartz powder with local, cheaper, and more accessible materials has been explored. Micronized quartz powder is crystalline, though some of its finer particles have a minor pozzolanic effect. In contrast, diatomite powder, which contains both amorphous and crystalline particles with a high percentage of amorphous silica, exhibits significantly greater pozzolanic activity. These enhanced reactions contribute to the formation of a denser and stronger concrete matrix, improving its mechanical properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of replacing quartz powder with diatomite powder in different proportions—specifically 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. The goal was to evaluate how this substitution affects the concrete's strength while also reducing overall production costs. In this research, concrete samples were tested at various curing ages, including 7, 14, and 28 days. Mechanical tests such as compressive strength and tensile strength were conducted to assess the effects of the substitution on the concrete's performance. Additionally, parameters such as standard water absorption, water absorption during curing, density, and consistency were measured. To simulate real-world construction conditions and avoid the use of specialized equipment, the samples were cured in a water tank at 25°C. This curing method not only eliminated the need for expensive equipment like autoclaves but also made the concrete more applicable to typical site conditions, further lowering production costs. The test results were promising. The strength of the modified concrete mixtures improved significantly when diatomite powder replaced quartz powder. In samples where 100% of the quartz powder was substituted with diatomite, the compressive strength increased from 543 MPa to 806 MPa (approximately 49%), and the tensile strength increased from 543 MPa to 806 MPa (approximately 18%) at 28 days. In addition to the improvements in mechanical properties, the use of diatomite powder offers significant economic advantages. Diatomite is abundantly available in various regions, and its accessibility reduces both production and transportation costs. As a result, the overall production cost of the concrete is significantly lowered, which is especially beneficial for large-scale construction projects where cost efficiency is critical. In conclusion, replacing quartz powder with diatomite powder is a practical solution that brings both technical and economic benefits. The enhanced strength of the concrete, coupled with reduced production costs and the efficient utilization of local resources, makes this approach a practical and effective method for producing high-performance concrete.

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During a laboratory biological study of a midge, Feltiella acarisuga (Vallot, 1827) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), acarivorous on two-spotted spider mites, some ceraphronid specimens were reared from the midge cocoons. A detailed morphological study and comparison with previously known species revealed that the ceraphronid is a new species of Aphanogmus Thomson, 1858 (Hymenoptera: Ceraphronidae). The new species is described as A. feltiellophagus Lotfalizadeh, sp. nov. and compared with closely related species. An identification key for all Aphanogmus species associated with predatory cecidomyiids is provided. As a parasitoid of the pupal stage of Feltiella acarisuga, the potential negative impact of A. feltiellophagus on the biological control of tetranychid mites is discussed.

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Subterranean termites are one of the most important pests of buildings, historic monuments and agricultural crops in some parts of Iran. Using entomopathogenic fungi as microbial insecticides is usually a part of biological control and insect pest management. The pathogenicity of entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin (DEMI 001) isolated from Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Oliver) was compared against two subterranean termites, Amitermes vilis (Hagen) and Microcerotermes gabrielis (Weidner) under laboratory conditions. Suspensions of the fungus spores at five concentrations of 10¹, 10², 10³, 10⁴, 10⁶ spores ml^-1 were prepared to define LC50 and LT50. To determine LC50 and LT50 of M. anisopliae, bioassays were carried out on worker casts of both termite species. LC50 values for A. vilis and M. gabrielis were 8.5 × 10³ and 0.2 × 10² spores ml^-1, respectively. LT50 value for M. gabrielis was shorter than that of A. vilis at all five concentrations tested. According to the results of the bioassay, M. anisopliae was more effective for controlling M. gabrielis than that for A. vilis.

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Study of phytoseiid mites in some regions of western and north–westernIranwere carried out during 2008–2011. In this study, 21 species belonging to the six genera were collected and identified. They were associated with aerial parts, soil and litter under cultivated, uncultivated plants and some phytophagous mites and insects.  

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This paper reviews the research on taxonomy of the Trombidioidea in Iran, with an updated checklist of 32 species (+5 undetermined species) belonging to five families and 22 genera. Among them, 27 species (+1 undetermined species) are reported based on larvae only, three undetermined species based on adults only, and six species based on both larval and post-larval stages. Also, 14 species (+3 undetermined species) and 10 genera belonging to the family Trombidiidae, one undetermined species belonging to the family Podothrombiidae, 13 species (+1 undetermined species) and seven genera belonging to the family Microtrombidiidae, three species, three genera belonging to the family Neothrombiidae and two species and one genus belonging to the family Achaemenothrombiidae. Major contributions to the Iranian fauna of the Trombidioidea were made by Alireza Saboori and his colleagues, and Zhi-Qiang Zhang. There have been some studies on the biology and the application of the Trombidioidea in biological control in Iran.

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Soil-dwelling mites and among them Gamasina (Acari, Mesostigmata) are widely distributed in soils, rich in species and have great ecological significance in the respective ecosystems. A survey was conducted to study Laelapidae (Mesostigmata) mites in Ahwaz (Khuzestan province), Iran during 2010-2012. Samples were taken from soil and litters and then mites extracted using Berlese funnel, cleared in lactic acid and mounted in Hoyer's medium. Among some species of this family, Gaeolaelaps jondishapouri n. sp., collected from soil is described and illustrated. G. jondishapouri n. sp. is characterized by dorsal shield with 39 pairs of setae (including Px2-3), r6 and R1-6 being off dorsal shield on soft lateral cuticle; posterior part of dorsal shield with abrupt contraction between S4 and S5 setae; st1 on weakly sclerotized pre-sternal area out of sternal shield, iv1-2 slit-like. A key to the adult females of the species of Gaeolaelaps with abrupt constriction in dorsal shield (Karg’s angusta species group) is provided.

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Medicinal plants were used from past to present. Different small arthropods such as Acari were found on these plants. Therefore a study on the Acari fauna associated with some medicinal plants (Family: Asteraceae) in Hamedan region was carried out during 2008–2009. In this survey, 23 species belonging 18 genera from 15 different families of the subclass Acari were collected and identified. Two spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) was determined as an abundant phytophagous mite species in this study.

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In this research 52 species of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) have been reported from the northeastern Fars province, of which the species of Hylaeus punctus Förster and Hoplitis leucomelana Kirby were new records for Iran fauna. Among the material examined, there were 11 species of Apidae, 19 species of Halictidae, 1 species of Andrenidae, 4 species of Colletidae and 17 species of Megachilidae. Phoretic mites belonging to four genera Parapygmephorus, Vidia, Imparipes and Anoetus were associated with halictid and meghachilid bees. Among associated mites with collected bees Imparipes burgeri Ebermann & Jagersbacher-Baumann belonging to the family Scutacaridae was new for Iran fauna and Asia. We also collected five new mite species for science. These species were belong to the genera Parapygmephorus (1 species), Vidia (1 species), and Anoetus (3 species) of the families Neopygmephoridae, Winterschmidtiidae and Anoetidae respectively that will be described elsewhere. All specimens are deposited in the “Collection of Iranian Pollinator Insects” of Yasouj University.

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The present checklist is a compilation of the eupodoid mites of Iran using published records and original data from recent researches. It contains 19 species belonging to 13 genera and five families. Family Cocceupodidae Jesionowska, 2010 (because of moving the genera to a new family) and two species i.e. Foveacheles (Foveacheles) cegetensis Zacharda, 1983 and Linopodes antennaepes Banks, 1894 are new records for Iranian mite fauna. In addition to some corrections to specific identities which have been previously reported in Iranian literature, we report here the known geographical distribution and habitats in Iran and distribution in the world as well.

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The grape erineum mite (GEM), Colomerus vitis (Pagenstecher) (Acari: Eriophyidae) is considered to be one of the most important pests, that sometimes causes irreversible damages to grapevine cultivars in western parts of Iran. Studies were carried out in order to find natural enemies associated with GEM, during 2011-2013. Results indicated that natural enemies included two species of predatory mites belonging to the families Phytoseiidae [Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) khosrovensis, T. (Anthoseius) bagdasarjani], Tydeidae (Neopronematus sp.), one species of Anystidae (Anystis baccarum), one species of Stigmaeidae (Zetzellia mali), one species of dipteran: Cecidomyiidae (Arthrocnodax vitis Rubsaamen), four species, belonging to the family Coccinellidae (Stethorus gilvifrons, Coccinella septempunctata, Hipodamya varigiata, Harmonia sp.), two species of predatory bugs belonging to the family Anthocoridae (Orius albidipennis, O. niger) and one species of Chrysopidae (Chrysopa carnea). Amongst them the cecidomyiid, the tydeid mite and the phytoseiid mites, had higher population densities in this area.      

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The laelapid mite, Gaeolaelapsaculeifer (Canestrini) is widespread in soil habitats and feeds on different small arthropods, fungi and nematodes. The development and fecundity of G. aculeifer feeding on Rhizoglyphus echinopus (Fumouze & Robin) as prey was studied at eight different constant temperatures which include: 16, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 25, 27.5, 30 and 32.5 ºC, with relative humidity of 60 ± 5%, and a 16:8 h (Light: Dark) photoperiod. The results showed that the development time of immature stages were 30.80 ± 0.68, 30.57 ± 0.42 days at 16 °C; 8.66 ± 0.09, 8.20 ± 0.18 days at 30 °C and 9.86 ± 0.19, 9.77 ± 0.22 days at 32.5 °C for females and males, respectively. The pre-oviposition period considerably varied from 7.60 ± 3.02 days at 16 °C to 0.81 ± 0.09 days at 30 °C and then increased to 2.07 ± 0.25 days at 32.5 °C. The oviposition period decreased with increasing temperature from 36.93 ± 2.66 days at 20 °C to 17.67 ± 1.90days at 32.5 °C. The average life span of females was 102.40 ± 8.08 days at 16 °C and 37.21 ± 1.98 days at 32.5 °C. The mean daily oviposition per female increased from 0.49 ± 0.14 at 16 °C to 3.76 ± 0.13 at 30 °C and decreased to 1.88 ± 0.15 at 32.5 °C.  

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This paper reports some species of Ameroseiidae from various habitats in different parts of Iran. Ameroseius bassolase (Vargass, 2001)has been reported from Iran, but it was a misidentification of Sertitympanum aegyptiacus Nasr & Abow-Awad, 1984. Redescription of Ameroseius lidiae Bregetova, 1977 based on female specimens is also presented.  

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A survey was carried out in citrus nurseries in Mazandaran and Kerman provinces as the major citrus growing regions of Iran. Different varieties of orange and tangerine with abnormal symptoms were examined for the occurrence of Candidatus Liberobacter asiaticus, Spiroplasma citri and phytoplasma as the most important vascular limited pathogens in citrus. By visual inspection and molecular examination of 360 samples for the presence of fastidious prokaryotes only an occasional occurrence of phytoplasma and Spiroplasma citri were detected, using phytoplasma universal primer pairs P1/P7 and fU5/rU3 (in single tube nested PCR assay) and Spiroplasma specific primers P89-r/f and P58-6f/4r. PCR products of phytoplasmas were digested with MseI, AluI, BamHI and TaqI restriction enzymes and the digestion results showed phytoplasma related to aster yellows phytoplasma group. No amplicon was obtained for Candidatus Liberobacter asiaticus. The findings suggest when pathogen’s titer is low; symptoms of vascular limited diseases are almost confused with disorder and deficiency signs. So for sanitary selection and certification program, use of sensitive detection methods is recommended. Multiplex PCR assay used in this study successfully detected Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, Spiroplasma citri and phytoplasma in one reaction and is suggested for health certification programs.  

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Mites exploit various symbiotic associations with insects and other arthropods, mainly parasitism and phoresy. Faunistic information of parasitic and phoretic mites on insects in Egypt is reviewed. Previous published records are gathered and, in some cases, altered. This paper presents an annotated list of the 120 species, including unidentified spp., of mites extracted from insects in Egypt to date. Mite species belong to 42 families [16 of Mesostigmata, 19 of Prostigmata, five of Astigmata and two in Cryptostigmata (Oribatida)]. Information about insect hosts, attachment sites and geographic distribution is provided.

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The strawberry spider mite (SSM), Tetranychus turkestani Ugarov & Nikolski, is an important pest of greenhouse cucumber in tropical and temperate regions of the world. The use of the host plant resistance is a basic method to reduce pesticide application in greenhouses. In this study, the biological responses of SSM to six greenhouse cucumber cultivars (Puia, Hedieh, Milad Ghadim, Milad Jadid, Khasib and Negin) were investigated. Non-choice tests were performed to evaluate the interaction between the host plant-mite. All tests of this study were carried out under laboratory conditions at 28 ± 1 °C, 60 ± 5% RH and 16:8 h (L: D) in a walk-in growth chamber. The results indicated that immature development time and adult longevity of SSM was significantly influenced by cucumber cultivars. The highest r, λ, and R₀ were 0.275 (day^-1), 1.316 (day^-1) and 36.180 (offspring/generation) all of which were recorded for the mites reared on the Hedieh cultivar. No significant difference was observed for these parameters among the other cultivars. Mean generation times of T. turkestani reared on Negin (14.020 day) and Milad Ghadim (13.57 day) cultivars were significantly longer than for the other cultivars. This mite had the shortest generation time on Puia cultivar (11.43 day). In conclusion, it seems that Hedieh and Milad Jadid cultivars are the more susceptible and resistant cultivars to the SSM than the other tested cultivars, respectively.

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In this study 46 species of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) and their 17 associated mite species from Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province reigns with some specimens collected from Yasouj and Dezful have been examined. Four species of mites were new for Iran: Sennertia zhelochovtsevi Zachvatkin, Vidia lineata Oudemans, Sennertionyx manicati (Giard) and Crabrovidia oudemansi Fain. These mites were found on bees’ families of Halictidae, Megachilidae, Apidae and Andrenidae. The identified mites were belonging to families of Neopygmephoridae, Scutacaridae, Chaetodactylidae, Anoetidae, Acaridae, Saproglyphidae and Winterschmidtiidae. Among bees’ families, the most association was observed on Halictidae and the lowest was on Andrenidae. Bee species of Halictus (Halictus) resurgens Nurse, 1903 had the highest percentage of association. All specimens are deposited in the Iranian Pollinator Insects Museum of Yasouj University. Herein a list of mite species associated with bees and bees’ species list are provided. Some specimens belong to genera of Imparipes Berlese, 1903 (n=12 specimens) and Chaetodactylus Rondani, 1866 (n=11 specimens) were new for science which would be described in a subsequent paper.

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An overview of the Arachnida and their study in Iran is provided. Besides ancient poetry, relics (going back to 5,000 YBP), and early medical observations (at least 2,000 YBP), the first published taxonomical observations of arachnids from Iran were in 1807 about scorpions. The superorders Parasitiformes and Acariformes (mites and ticks) have received by far the most attention among all of the Arachnida thanks to their economic and medical/veterinary importance. Occurrences have been noted for over 1,733 species in four orders: Ixodida, Mesostigmata, Sarcoptiformes, and Trombidiformes. The first tick of the Ixodida was described in 1818. The first mite species described from Iran was of the Mesostigmata in 1982. The first member of the Sarcoptiformes named from Iran is uncertain, but the first Iranian species of the Suborder Oribatida was described in 1984 and was likely the first for the order. The first species described from Iran of the Order Trombidiformes were named in 1995. Studies on spiders started in 1874. Spiders are recorded by the occurrences of 764 species. Scorpions number 68 species in Iran and receive a lot of study and are better known compared to mites and spiders on a percentage basis, because scorpions have such a small diversity worldwide. The first Iranian species of Solifugae was described in 1895. The camel spiders are known from 67 species. Pseudoscorpions are recorded by 65 species. The Opiliones are known by 22 named species. The Amblypygi are recorded from Iran by one species described in 2018.

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Kalmakareh treasure was accidentally explored by a rural hunter from the Kalmakareh cave in 1989. The cave is Located in the north west of Poldokhtar City in Loristanprovice. The treasure includes different types of vessels like rhytons, human and animal statues, masks, plaques, bracelets, etc. Based on the previous studies, the treasure belongs to Neo-Elamite period (1^th millennium BC). These objects bear archaeological significance and enjoy unique value, with recpect to Neo-Elamite inscriptions in some of them. Deciphering theses incscriptions by Lambert, F.Vallat and RassoulBashash, and archaeological analysis by Leila Khosravi shed light on an anonymous local governorship of the Neo-Elamite, and provided a New chapter in the archaeological studies of this particular period in the west of Iran. Except a few number of masks made of gold, the rest objects of this collection were nade of silver. It seems that, because of being as a scale for trade at the time, the artisans deliberately applied silver to produce kalmakareh treasure. The authors aim to present an analytical study on the golden masks of the treasure, and slso compare them with the same types produced in other cultures.  

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Mites of the families Parasitidae and Laelapidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) are among the most common and widely distributed mites of the suborder Gamasina. During 2015-2017, fauna of parasitid and laelapid (Acari: Mesostigmata) mites from domestic animal manure collected and surveyed in Khuzestan Province, southwestern Iran.Totally, four Parasitidae species belonging to three genera and seven Laelapidae species belonging to four genera collected from domestic animal manure in Khuzestan Province. Among them, Cornigamasus ocliferius Skorupski & Witaliński, 1997 is a new record for mite fauna of Asia and Androlaelaps projecta Furman, 1972 is a new name for mite fauna of Iran. Four species are new to Khuzestan Province fauna as well. We also recorded six manure-associated species which have never been previously reported from manure in Iran. Parasitus fimetorum (Berlese, 1904) was the most frequent Parasitidae species among our records. The mites distribution and habitats data in Khuzestan Province are provided for all of the species, together with some taxonomic and bio-ecological notes.