Aceria capsellae (Nalepa 1890)

Monfreda, Rosita & Lillo, Enrico De, 2012, Eriophyoid mites (Acari: Eriophyoidea) on Brassicaceae: a new species of Metaculus from Turkey and remarks on other species associated with brassicaceous plants, Zootaxa 3154, pp. 47-60 : 54

1. Aceria capsellae (Nalepa 1890)

Nalepa 1890a— Anz. kais. Akad. Wiss., Math-Natur Kl., Wien, 27(1): 2 (nomen nudum); Nalepa 1890b— Sitzb. kaiser. Akad. Wiss. Math.-Naturwiss., Wien, 99(2): 66 no. 23 (nomen nudum); Nalepa 1891 — Nova Acta Leop. Akad., 55(6): 371–373 (no fig.).

Type data. Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik. (= C. Bursa pastoris Mönch. as reported by Nalepa 1890a; 1929), Chinese cress, shepherd's purse; collection locality was not stated by the author even though Austria is presumed.

General distribution. Palaearctic (presumed to be only Austria).

Relation to the host. This mite was associated with the deformation of flowers.

Remarks. No morphological description is available for this species. Most reports consist of catalogue citations. However, Nalepa (1891) compared plant deformation and mites, and established that the flower abnormalities on Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz, Capsella bursa-pastoris , Cardaria draba (L.) Desv. (originally listed as Lepidium draba L.) and Descurainia sophia (L.) Webb ex Prantl (originally listed as Sisymbrium sophia L.), were caused by the same mite or, at most, its varieties. On the basis of quite clear morphological differences in mite populations, Nalepa linked Aceria longior to C. sativa and D. sophia ; A. longior var. capsellae to C. bursa-pastoris and A. longior var. drabae to C. draba . Later, A. capsellae was made a junior synonym of A. drabae ( Nalepa 1898; 1929). Amrine and Stasny (1994) elevated this species name to the rank of species but they were doubtful about the real taxonomic status of A. capsellae . Without any further details allowing for the clear characterisation of this species, its synonymy with A. drabae was continued in the Fauna Europaea checklist by de Lillo (2004).