Bryobiinae

t

Taxonomy

Common names

clover mites

Probability of encounter

medium

Quarantine importance

Medium. The genus Aplonobia has few economically important pests: most of the ~30 known species feed on native grasses, composites, and Chenopodiaceae.  

• A. histricina (Berlese) the soursob mite feeds primarily on Oxalis spp., but may damage pear.  
• A. citri is a minor pest of citrus in Australia and South Africa.

Diagnosis

• Claws and empodium pad-like
• Prodorsum with 3 pairs of setae (ve, sci, sce); without prominent lobes over gnathosoma
• Opisthosoma with 10 pairs of setae borne on strong tubercles (c1–3, d1–2, e1–2, f1–2, h1)

Similar taxa

The true spider mites in the Tetranychinae do not have empodia with tenent hairs. Either the claws or the empodia are hooked in other tribes of Bryobiinae. Petrobia harti (Ewing) also feeds on oxalis and has hooked empodia.

References

• Baker and Pritchard 1960Baker and Pritchard 1960:
  Baker EW, Pritchard AE. 1960. The tetranychoid mites of Africa. Hilgardia 29 (11): 455–574.
• Baker and Tuttle 1994Baker and Tuttle 1994:
  Baker EW, Tuttle DM. 1994. A guide to the spider mites (Tetranychidae) of the United States. Indira Publishing House, West Bloomfield, Michigan. 347 pp.
• Bolland et al. 1998Bolland et al. 1998:
  Bolland HR, Gutierrez J, Flechtmann CHW. 1998. World catalogue of the spider mite family (Acari: Tetranychidae). Brill, Leiden.
• Helle and Sabelis 1985Helle and Sabelis 1985:
  Helle W and Sabelis MW, eds. 1985. Spider mites: Their biology, natural enemies, and control. World Crop Pests, Vol. 1A. Elsevier, New York.
• Jeppson et al. 1975Jeppson et al. 1975:
  Jeppson LR, Keifer HH, Baker EW. 1975. Mites injurious to economic plants. University of California Press, Berkeley.
• Migeon and Flechtmann 2004Migeon and Flechtmann 2004:
  Migeon A, Flechtmann CHW. 2004. First additions and corrections to the World Catalogue of the Spider Mite Family (Acari: Tetranychidae). International Journal of Acarology 30 (2): 143–152.