Diversity of Arthropods in Municipal Solid Waste Landfill of Urmia, Iran

The present study was designed for identification of arthropods species in Urmia city municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill in 2014. The specimens were collected by hand and with sweep net. After the initial classification at the order level, genus and species identification were done using morphological identification keys. In total, 1,913 arthropod samples were collected. The samples were classified into four different classes. The most abundant species of arachnids was Steatoda paykulliana Walckenaer (Araneae: Theridiidae) and Agelenopsis spp. Giebel (Araneae: Agelenidae). Out of nine insect orders, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera were the most prevalent, all of which include medically important species. Sixteen families and 25 genera of insects were collected, including the muscid genera, Musca, Muscinia, Phannia, and Stomoxys. Musca, Psyllabora, and Phania were the most prevalent insect genera. In total, 33 species of arthropods were collected from MSW landfill in Urmia. Five insect species were heterometabolic including medically important species, Periplaneta americana Linnaeus (Blattodea: Blattidae) and Shelfordella lateralis Walker (Blattodea: Ectobiidae). Determination of the fauna in MSW landfill will be helpful in the control of possible vector borne disease epidemics.