Study on the incidence of species composition of the mite fauna of grain stores and flour mills of Punjab, India

In storage facility one can find mites either in stored grain mass or in grain residues. During present investigations fifty samples of various materials (organic dust, debris and residues) from 20 flour mills and 10 grain mills were collected. of these samples 36 samples, of which 80% of the grain stores and 60% of the flour mills were found to be infested with mites. Total 22 species belonging to 14 genera have been identified. The identified mites in order of their concentrations were Acarus siro, A. immobilis, A. farris, Caloglyphgus berlesei, Thyreophagus puterisentiae, Tyrophgus sp.,Tyrolicus casei ,Tyrolicus sp.,Thyreophagus entomorphagus , Rhizoglyphus robini , Carpoglyphus lactis ,Suidasia nesbitti , Dermatophagoides farinae, Glycyphagus destructor, G. ornatus, G. domesticus, G. privates, Spelaerorhynchus praecursor, Dermanyssuss gallinae, Cheyletus erditus, C. troussarti and Orbitida sp. Acarus sp, Glycyphagus sp. and Tyrophagus sp. were the most predominant sps found. It has been observed that samples collected during the months of August, Sept. Oct. and Nov. were highly infested where the samples collected during Dec., Jan., Feb. and March were least infested whereas the samples collected during April, May, June and July were moderately infested.