Sixteen species of Tetranychoidea, 11 Tetranychidae and 5 Tenuipalpidae are reported in this study. Seven of them are recorded for the first time from Syria: Bryobia gigas, Oligonychus afrasiaticus, O. coniferarum, O. pratensis, Cenopalpus rubusi, Tenuipalpus cupressoides and T. punicae. New host plant records are also reported. Reinstatement of the genus Nuciforaella Vacante is discussed in this study. Detailed descriptions of immature stages and female of Nuciforaella nikitensis are given. A key to the known species of the family Tetranychidae from Syria is provided.

Study of morphological characters of Tetranychus macfarlanei Baker & Pritchard and Tetranychus malaysiensis Ehara revealed high similarity by comparing all the important characters in addition to the characters pointed out by Ehara to separate those two species. Molecular phylogeny of seven Indian populations of T. macfarlanei and one population of T. malaysiensis from Philippines along with few distantly related species of Tetranychus was attempted. High degree of similarity between these two species at mitochondrial COI gene (96%) as well as ITS2 (rDNA) (96–99%) region was evident. Based on both morphological features and molecular data, T. malaysiensis is proposed as a junior synonym of T. macfarlanei based on ICZN’s law of priority. Also more female characters are prompted in this study to distinctly discriminate T. macfarlanei from its most resembling species, Tetranychus ludeni Zacher. Tetranychus macfarlanei has emerged as a pest of several cultivated crop plants in India.

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Soybean (Glycine max (L) Merril). is also called Golden bean belongs to family Fabaceae is native to China having high nutritive value and oil content. Due to usage of inorganic fertilizers the fertility of soil and yield soybean has declined. Organic manures known to increase the soil fertility, structure and also influence the microbial enzymes activity and soil mesofauna. In this context the present investigation was undertaken to study, the different doses of farm yard manure and chemical fertilizers on the soil mesofauna and microbial enzymes at GKVK, Bangalore during the year 2013-2014. The investigation revealed that higher abundance of soil mesofauna (18.53) was recorded in 20 tons of FYMha-1 compared to the treatments with recommended package of practices (12.35) and inorganic fertilizer (10.30) alone. Soil mesofauna exhibited a significant positive relation with the microbial enzymes like dehydrogenase, acid and alkaline phosphtases and urease. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis showed that the influence of exchangeable calcium, available potassium and available phosphorous, exchangeable magnesium, dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase and urease on the abundance of soil mesofauna was up to 79 per cent. Higher rhizobium nodule number (64.93/plant) and yield (16.01 q/ha) of soybean found to increase with increase in farmyard manure application.

Two species of Tetranychidae (Acari), Oligonychus neotylus sp. nov. from Zea mays and Pennisetum purpureum (Poaceae) and Tetranychus hirsutus sp. nov. from Gymnema sylvestre R. Br. (Apocynaceae) are described from Karnataka state, south India. Tetranychus bambusae Wang and Ma is recorded for the first time from India and re-described. Four other species are reported for the first time from India viz., Oligonychus coniferarum (McGregor), Oligonychus duncombei Meyer, Tetranychus marianae McGregor and Tetranychus okinawanus Ehara from Cupressus sp., an undetermined grass, Centrosema pubescens and Adenium obesum, respectively.