INTRODUCTION Mites are ubiquitous found in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The guild “Plant mites” consists of many mite species belonging to different taxa. In view of global importance as pest, tetranychids ranks first, damage all types of crops including field, vegetable, fruit, ornamental, medicinal and aromatic plants (Vacante, 2015). In spite of this huge diversity, so far reported spider mites from India are only 122 species (Migeon & Dorkeld 2022). Because their precise identification problem due to their small size, cryptic nature, limited number of available morphological characters and similarity between species. In addition, both sexes are often needed in order to arrive to precise determinations in many species. Hence, unfortunately much less well known than other groups in the phylum Arthropoda, except few extensive collections by Gupta. Gupta (1976) reported 32 species under 11 genera and reviewed the spider mites of India and reported 83 species under 18 genera (Gupta, 1983 & 1985). Further he reported occurrence of 100 species under 20 genera from India (Gupta, 1991) and in 1994 reported 101 species (Gupta & Gupta 1994). From Karnataka, Zeity (2011) recorded the diversity of mites in Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bengaluru and enlisted 71 species of mites belonging to 38 genera and 17 families. Again, similar study was conducted in 17 districts of Karnataka and reported 46 tetranychid mite species, among which 13 species were first records from India (Zeity, 2015). Shivamogga district, being the entrance door of western ghats and known for its huge biodiversity across plants and animals, but information on diversity of tetranychid mite from the area is lacking. Hence the resent study was framed to explore the faunal diversity of tetranychid mites in Shivamogga district and associated predatory mites were also documented, which can be further exploited in biological control of mites and other sucking pests. MATERIAL AND METHODS During this study, major agricultural and horticultural ecosystems including pasture lands of Shivamogga were sampled during different seasons for the occurrence of mites. Using a 10X hand lens, the presence/ absence of spider mites will be examined and plant material with mites were sampled in polyethylene bags with a proper label. The collected samples were examined under a stereo microscope for spider mites. The mites collected were mounted on glass slides using Hoyer’s medium. The collection data were recorded on the slides. The slides were examined under a Phase contrast microscope, Zeiss® ScopeA1. The mites were identified to the species level using keys provided by Krantz (1978). District map of location sampled was constructed using QGIS 3.20.2. Software and abundance of species were analysed using Shannon- Wiener diversity index. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Representative samples were collected different talukas of Shivamogga for the presence of spider mites (Fig. 1). A total of 16 species of tetranychid mites were recorded across 42 host plants (Table 1) comprising of cultivated, forest and pasture ecosystems. These mites belonged to four genus viz., Tetranychus, Oligonychus, Schizotetranychus and Eutetranychus. Of which, Oligonychus grypus Baker & Pritchard was recorded for the first time from Karnataka, while their host plants Pennisetum glaucum (L.) and Apluda mutica L. were new host records globally. This mite was earlier reported on Oryza sativa from Tamil Nadu (Kowsika, 2015) is the only other report available on the species from India. The host plant, Tinospora cardifolia (Thunb.) was first time reported as host for spider mite species Tetranychus macfarlanei Baker & Pritchard and Tetranychus truncatus Ehara. Among all the 16 spider mite species, T. macfarlanei was the most abundant species followed by T. truncatus and Tetranychus neocaledonicus Andre (Fig. 2). Contrast to this earlier research states Tetranychus urticae Koch was the most predominant species in and around Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu (Kowsika, 2015) and with wide host range including vegetable and fruit crops (Nandagopal and Gedia 1995) and most common on eggplant and okra (Singh and Mukherjee 1991). Reason behind such changing pest status of spider mites unlike T. urticae in other parts contrary to T. macfarlanei in Shivamogga has to be addressed by future research. In addition, predatory mites associated with spider mites were also collected and identified. Mites of the family Phytoseiidae, Stigmaeidae, Tydeidae and Bdellidae were identified, of which Phytoseid predators were more abundant (Fig. 3). The genus Amblyseius was more with respect to number of species (Amblyseius paraaerialis Muma, Amblyseius largoensis (Muma) and Amblyseius shoreae Gupta), while Neoseilus longispinosus (Evans) was more wide spread found feeding on nine species of prey mite species (Table 2).