Abstract
This paper reports the description of two new species belonging to the family Linotetranidae from Iran, Linotetranus iraniensis sp. nov. and L. astragalusi sp. nov., collected in soil associated with gum bushes, Astragalus gossypinus Fisch. (Fabaceae). A key to all known species of the world is provided. Linotetranidae differs from the other four families of the superfamily Tetranychoidea due to the presence of ventral setae 2a and the absence of eyes (Baker & Pritchard 1953; Beard & Walter 2004). The genus Linotetranus was established by Berlese (1910) and it was promoted to the family Linotetranidae by Baker & Pritchard (1953). Currently this family has four genera, namely: Afrolinotus Meyer & Ueckermann, Anoplopalpus Meyer & Uecker-mann, Austrolinus Beard & Walter and Linotetranus Berlese. Linotetranus is the largest genus and based on phylogenetic data is most closely related to Anoplopalpus (Beard & Walter 2004).
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