Occurrence of Predatory and Fungivorous Mites in Leaf Domatia

Abstract

Domatia are small invaginations and hair tufts usually found at vein junctions on the undersides of leaves in many woody dicots. Domatia of 32 plant species (of worldwide origin from 18 families) growing in California, Hawaii, and Costa Rica were examined for mites. Domatia of 31 of 32 (97%) of these plants contained mites, and 24 of 32 (75%) contained mite eggs. Mites were found within the domatia of 48% of the sampled leaves. The domatia of 26 of 31 (84%) plants had mite species considered beneficial (primarily in the families Phytoseiidae and Tydeidae, but also Bdellidae, Cheyletidae and Stigmaeidae), while 6 of 31 (19%) had mite species considered harmful (Tenuipalpidae and Eriophyidae). Based on these findings (and in part upon Lundström's 1887 domatia theory), we hypothesize the existence of a widespread facultative mutualism between plants with leaf domatia and beneficial mites: leaf domatia serve as shelters and nurseries for mites which in turn eat phytophagous arthropods and pathogens using the plants. This proposed mutualism could be of importance to agriculture since domatia are known to occur in some crop plants, including coffee, grape, and walnut.

Mites and leaf domatia: no evidence of mutualism in Coffea arabica plants

“…Despite this, several mite species have been found in association with leaf domatia of C. arabica plants in Australia (O'Dowd 1994), Brazil (Matos et al 2006, Mineiro et al 2008, Costa Rica (Vega et al 2007), and Hawaii, USA (Pemberton & Turner 1989). In addition, recent studies have showed that coffee domatia improve survival and reproduction of the predatory mite Iphiseiodes zuluagai Denmark & Muma in southeastern Brazil (e.g.…”

Understanding and Manipulating Plant Attributes to Enhance Biological Control

“…Leaf domatia are examples of such structures. They are small pockets, cavities, pits, and/or tufts of trichomes located at the junction of primary and secondary veins on the leaf undersurface (Metcalfe and Chalk, 1979;Pemberton and Turner, 1989;Turner and Pemberton, 1989;Walter and O'Dowd, 1992;Whitman, 1994). Studies in which domatia were sampled for their occupants showed that many contained mites, predominantly predatory or fungivorous species Karban, 1997; O'Dowd and Pemberton, 1998).…”

Domatia reduce larval cannibalism in predatory mites

“…It has been hypothesised that leaf domatia mediate mutualistic interactions between plants and predatory and fungivorous mites because they protect the mites against adverse conditions ( Pemberton & Turner, 1989;O'Dowd & Willson, 1991;Grostal & O'Dowd, 1994 ;Walter, 1996 ) and against other predators or omnivores ( Norton et al , 2001;Faraji et al , 2002a , b). Owing to this protection, the survival of predators on plants with domatia would be higher than on plants without domatia ( Agrawal & Karban, 1997;Agrawal et al , 2000;English-Loeb et al , 2002 ).…”

“…To achieve this indirect defence, plants produce herbivore-induced volatiles to attract predators and parasitoids ( Dicke, 1999;Janssen et al , 2002;Kessler & Baldwin, 2002 ), offer pollen and nectar as alternative food to the enemies ( Beattie, 1985;Pemberton & Lee, 1996;Sabelis & van Rijn, 1997 ), or provide shelter to natural enemies ( Beattie, 1985;O'Dowd & Willson, 1989;Pemberton & Turner, 1989;O'Dowd & Willson, 1991;Walter, 1996 ). Examples of shelter provided by plants are leaf domatia.…”

“…Examples of shelter provided by plants are leaf domatia. They are found in the bifurcation of veins on the underside of the leaves of many plant species ( O'Dowd & Willson, 1989;Pemberton & Turner, 1989;Grostal & O'Dowd, 1994 ;O'Dowd & Pemberton, 1994;Walter, 1996;Agrawal, 1997Agrawal, , 2000, and consist of tufts of hair, pockets, pits or pouches ( Pemberton & Turner, 1989 ). They are mainly inhabited by predatory and fungivorous mites and are therefore referred to as acarodomatia ( Pemberton & Turner, 1989;O'Dowd & Pemberton, 1998 ).…”