Bdellid mites of the southern Caspian Sea coast with description of a new species of Cyta (Acari: Trombidiformes: Prostigmata: Bdellidae)

Four species of the family Bdellidae were collected from the southern coast of the Caspian Sea in Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, including Cyta latirostris (Hermann), Odontoscirus kazeruni (Ostovan and Kamali), and Spinibdella cronini (Baker and Balock), together with a new species of the genus Cyta von Heyden. The new species, C. akhyanii n. sp., is described based on male, female, tritonymph and deutonymph specimens collected from Anzali and Babolsar counties, as well as the Miankaleh Peninsula in northern Iran. This species can be distinguished by the following combination of characters: prodorsal setae at, lps, and mps not aligned, forming the vertices of a triangle; seta DHS present; palp basifemur with four setae; and absence of trichobothria on tibiae and tarsi of legs.