A review of the status of the coconut mite, Aceria guerreronis (Acari: Eriophyidae), a major tropical mite pest

Abstract

The coconut mite (CM), Aceria guerreronis Keifer, has spread to most coconut production areas worldwide and it has been considered one of the most notorious and important pests of coconut fruits in many countries. Although CM has been reported to damage coconuts for over 40 years in the Americas and Africa it continues to cause considerable losses in countries of these continents, and in the last 15 years it has also reached countries from southeast Asia-India and Sri Lanka. Several other countries of southeast Asia are also major coconut producers and the impact by the mite in currently affected areas suggests that the dispersion of CM to these major producers could lead to very heavy losses. Great advances about our knowledge on CM and its control have been achieved, especially in the last decade, after its introduction into Asia. However, much remains to be known to allow the design of efficient strategies to it. This paper brings together information on CM invasive history, distribution, hosts, morphology, biology, dispersal, colonization process, population dynamics, symptoms and injury, estimated losses, sampling techniques, control strategies and new perspectives for its control.

Potential of Ascidae, Blattisociidae and Melicharidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) as Biological Control Agents of Pest Organisms

“…Aceria guerreronis is one of the main pests of coconut in the Americas, Africa and parts of Asia (Navia et al 2013 ). Major effort has been dedicated to the search for prospective predators in different parts of the world for its control.…”

“…The predators most often found associated with it are phytoseiids. However, some species of the ascid complex have also been often found, especially P. bickleyi and P. bulbosus , but also some other species of this complex (Navia et al 2013 ). Those two Proctolaelaps species were the most numerous predators associated with A. guerreronis in southeastern Brazil (Oliveira et al 2012 ).…”

Cryptic speciation in the Acari: a function of species lifestyles or our ability to separate species?

“…Given the great economic and medical importance of many mite and tick species, whether as parasites, crop pests, pathogen vectors, or biological control agents (e.g. Navia et al 2013a ; Walter and Proctor 2013 ), their misidentification may have serious negative consequences for human activities (e.g. Anderson and Trueman 2000 ; Bernasconi et al 2002 ; Arthur et al 2011 ; Beati et al 2013 ; Matsuda et al 2013 ; Miller et al 2013 ; Navia et al 2013b ; Skoracka et al 2013 ; Burger et al 2014 ).…”

Evidence of Amblyseius largoensis and Euseius alatus as biological control agent of Aceria guerreronis

“…The coconut mite, Aceria guerreronis Keifer (Acari: Eriophyidae), is the most important pest of coconut fruits throughout the world (Navia et al 2013). It occurs in all coconutproducing countries, with exception of the presumed region of coconut origin, namely between southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea (Chan and Elevitch 2006).…”