A New Species, New Synonymy and a New Record of Eriophyoid Mites (Acari: Eriophyidae), From Egypt

Abstract

A new eriophyoid mite species, Heterotergum zaheri sp. nov. from Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Desf (Rhamnaceae) is described and illustrated. This mite is vagrant in the tender apical shoots (between hairs) and on the lower surface of young leaves. It causes no apparent damage. In addition, a supplementary description of Vittacus bougainvilleae (Keifer, 1959) comb. nov. (transferred from Phyllocoptes), is provided; it is recorded for the first time in Egypt, infesting Bougainvillea glabra Choisy (Nyctaginaceae). Moreover, Aculops guajavae Abou-Awad, Al-Azzazy & Afia, 2016, which causes rust on terminal leaves of Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae), is set as a junior synonym of Tegolophus guavae (Boczek, 1960) and redescribed.

A new species, first record and synonymy of eriophyid mites (Acari, Prostigmata) from Egyptian weeds

“…More than 1,044 species have been assigned to the genus Aceria Keifer, 1944 with approximately 51 of them being found in Egypt to date. With this study, Egyptian eriophyoid fauna increased to 121 species from 37 genera (Zaher 1984;Elhalawany 2012Elhalawany , 2015Elhalawany , 2018Elhalawany and Ueckermann 2015Elhalawany et al 2014Elhalawany et al , 2019aElhalawany et al , b, 2020Elhalawany et al , 2021Halawa 2015).…”

“…This genus is distinguished by its fusiform body, gnathosoma that projects downward; flat dorsal opisthosoma, and semiannuli that appear as transverse thickened bands, forming a slight furrow, especially caudally; each band forms subdorsal ridges laterally. There are currently nine species of Vittacus known worldwide, only two species of which have previously been recorded from Egypt, Vittacus plucheae Abou-Awad & Nasr, 1986 on P. dioscoridis and Vittacus bougainvilleae (Keifer, 1959) on Bougainvillea glabra Choisy (Nyctaginaceae) (Guo et al 2015;Elhalawany 2018). Abou-Awad (1981) established the genus Neooxycenus based on Neooxycenus plucheae on P. dioscoridis and described it as having a fusiform, flattened body divided into broad dorsal semiannuli and narrow microtuberculate ventral semiannuli.…”

“…In addition, approximately 30 eriophyoid species have been recorded on amaranthaceous plants; 21 of which are from the genus Aceria, with only one, Aceria lividus Elhalawany, 2018, being recorded on Amaranthus lividus L. (Elhalawany 2018;Lewandowski et al 2021, Ripka and Takacs 2021; Amrine and de Lillo personal communication 2022).…”

Two new Eriophyes species (Acari: Eriophyidae) on tamarisk trees from Egypt

“…More than 286 species have been assigned to the genus Eriophyes von Siebold, 1851; among them seven species were described in Egypt to date. In this study, the Egyptian eriophyoids fauna was increased to 123 species in 37 genera (Zaher 1984;Elhalawany 2018Elhalawany , 2022Elhalawany & Ueckermann 2015, 2022Elhalawany et al , 2019Elhalawany et al , 2020Elhalawany et al , 2021.…”

New records of Eriophyidae and Tenuipalpidae mites (Acari: Prostigmata) on bougainvillea plants in South Africa

“…Eriophyoid mites were collected from the underside of the leaves into a drop of sorbitol-isopropyl solution, cleared in Keifer's booster and mounted in Keifer's F-medium for identification (Jeppson et al 1975; Amrine andManson 1996). Identification to genus level was done with "The key to world eriophyoid genera" by Amrine et al (2003) and identification to species using Keifer (1959), Abou-Awad and Elbanhawy (1991), and Elhalawany (2018). Flat mites were collected from shoots and leaves into 70% alcohol.…”