A Report on the Occurrence, Abundance and Distribution of Cheese Mite, Tyrolichus Casei Oudemans, 1910 (Acari: Acaridae) from some Stored Food Products in Punjab

Acarological analyses of 12 stored food products (Almond, Black gram, Cheese, Dalia, Maida, Maize flour, Moong Dal, Rice, Suji, Walnut, Wheat and White gram) collected from shops and storehouses from march 2014 to February 2017 in Punjab were conducted. Thirty samples (each of 25 grams) of each stored food were collected per season, i.e. Summer i.e. CCL1 (March-June), Rainy i.e. CCL2 (July-October) and Winter i.e. CCL3 (November- February). A total of 1220 (37.65 %) samples out of 3240 samples, were mite positive. A total of 30 mite species belonging to 3 orders, 12 families and 21 genera were reported. A total of 14812 mite specimens were obtained. During the present investigation, Tyrolichus casei has been observed in the samples of Cheese only. 14 out of 3240 total samples examined were infested with Tyrolichus casei that form 0.43% of total and 1.14% of mite-infested samples. A total of 202 specimens of this mite were obtained which is 1.36% of the total mite population (14812 specimens).