Onchodellus siculus (Berlese, 1892)

Pachylaelaps strigifer var. siculus Berlese, 1892: 5 .

Onchodellus siculus .— Mašán, 2007: 141; Mašán & Halliday, 2014: 20.

Habitat preference in Iran. Soil.

Provincial distribution in Iran. Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Guilan, Hamadan, Kerman, and West Azerbaijan (Ahmadi, 2002, published as Pachylaelaps siculus Berlese, 1920a; Haddad Irani-Nejad et al., 2003; Rostami et al., 2010; Babaeian & Kazemi, 2011; Mojahed et al., 2017).

World distribution. Asia (Iran, Israel, and Korea) (Costa, 1961; Keum et al., 2016; Mojahed et al., 2017), Europe (Finland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Slovakia, and Switzerland) (Costa, 1961, 1971; Karg, 1971, 1993; Salmane, 2001; Salmane & Kontschán, 2005; Mašán, 2007; Salmane & Brumelis, 2010; Huhta, 2016).

Notes. Onchodellus siculus is the second most widely distributed species of the genus in Iran. It can exist in low- to mid-land areas (Mašán, 2007: at the altitudes 170–895 m a.s.l.; Mojahed et al., 2017: at the altitudes - 18–113 m a.s.l). This coprophilous species is found in moss, compost, greenhouses, meadow stands, and in different microhabitats, such as horse excrement, tussock of grass plants, nests of small mammals, and nest of voles (Costa, 1961, 1971; Karg, 1993; Mašán, 2007; Salmane & Brumelis, 2010).