Phyllotetranychus aegyptiacus Sayed, 1938

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 : 511

Phyllotetranychus aegyptiacus Sayed, 1938 ( Figure 21 )

Diagnosis (Female) — Body oval and dorsally covered with fan-shaped, veined setae, prodorsum with setae v2 very broad near middle and distally pointed ( Fig 21 ). Differs from second species in this genus, P. romaine Pritchard & Baker , only in having setae v2 elongate-elliptical. Palp two-segmented.

Male — Dorsal setae also fan-shaped but clearly smaller than those of female, not covering dorsum. Dorsocentral setae all similar but very dissimilar in P. romaine .

Hosts and localities — In Israel this species was collected from Phoenix dactylifera L.

( Arecaceae ), Arava Valley ( Smith Meyer & Gerson, 1981). It was originally described from P.

dactylifera from Egypt ( Sayed, 1938) and also reported from Iran ( Khanjani et al., 2013).

Symptoms — Sucks plant sap with chlorophyll from leaves resulting in infested areas turning yellowish. In heavy infestations the affected areas change to dirty whitish blotches which result from the aggregation of the mites with their whitish fan-like setae, and the leaves eventually turn dark brown and die (Zaher et al., 1969). In Israel, no damage has ever been reported in association with this species (Palevsky, unpublished, Blumberg, 2008).

Figures

Figure 21 Phyllotetranychus aegyptiacusSayed: dorsal view of female.