Dolichotetranychus australianus ( Womersley, 1943 )

Ueckermann, Edward A., Palevsky, Eric, Gerson, Uri, Recht, Eitan & Theron, Pieter D., 2018, The Tenuipalpidae (Acari: Trombidiformes) of Israel, Acarologia 58 (2), pp. 483-525 : 508-510

Dolichotetranychus australianus ( Womersley, 1943) ( Figure 19 )

Diagnosis (Female) — Body elongate-oval, opisthosoma with dorsolaterals h1, h2 and f3 clearly longest, all dorsal setae serrate; dorsum covered with longitudinal striae ( Fig 19A ); spermatheca a long tube terminating in a small vesicle; ventrally genital shield with longitudinal, smooth striae and 2 pairs of setae, one pair of aggenital ag () setae anterior to this shield, anal shield with 2 pairs of setae (ps) ( Fig 19B ); setae 3a four times longer than 4a ( Fig 19C ). Tarsal claws with small hooks ( Fig 19D ).

Hosts and localities — Collected from Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (Graminaceae) at

Elot, Israel ( Smith Meyer & Gerson, 1981). Womersley (1943) described this species from C. dactylon , Australia. It was also recorded from C. magennisii Hurcombe in South Africa, from C. dactylon , Egypt and Zimbabwe ( Baker & Pritchard, 1956; Wafa & Yousef, 1968 -1969; Goldsmid, 1962). Recently it was also reported from Bangladesh and the Seychelles ( Woods, 2010).

Symptoms — Dolichotetranychus australianus is a serious pest of turf grasses in Australia and is often found together with the eriophyid Aceria cynodoniensis Sayed. The symptoms of these two species differ in that A. cynodoniensis causes a “witches-broom” response at the nodes, whereas the feeding of D. australianus results in thinning and weakening of stands;

severe infestations can virtually turn the whole sward brown and die; the symptoms can be described as pinetree-like growths ( Seeman et al., 2016).

Figures

Figure 19 Dolichotetranychus australianus(Womersley) – Female: A – dorsal view; B – opisthogaster; C – metapodosoma, lengths of setae 3aand4aspermatheca; D – tarsal claw.