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Fig. 1. Bryobia larvae, dorsal habitus - B. rubrioculus (as B. arborea) and B. praetiosa (redrawn from Morgan & Anderson 1957).
Material examined
specimens were not examined
Taxonomy
Subfamily Bryobiinae
Tribe Bryobiini
Common Name
Brown mite
Distribution
+Australia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, CIS, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, *Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, UK, USA, Uruguay, Yemen
In Australia this species has been collected in Tasmania particularly on pome fruits (Miller 1966), in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria (Womersley 1940), Queensland (as B. praetiosa, Bengston 1960) and in New South Wales (Gutierrez and Schicha 1983).
Taxonomy Changes
Sannio rubrioculus Scheuten 1857
Bryobia rubrioculus (Scheuten) van Eyndhoven 1956
Bryobia bioculus Amerlind 1862, synonymy Livshits & Mitrofanov 1971
Bryobia pyri Boisduval 1867, synonymy Livshits & Mitrofanov 1971
Bryobia goriensis Reck 1947, syonymy Livshits & Mitrofanov 1971
Bryobia redikorzevi Reck 1947, synonymy Frommer & Jorgensen 1972
Bryobia arborea Morgan & Anderson 1957, synonymy Baker & Pritchard 1960
Diagnosis
Larva (Fig. 1)
- dorsal body setae spatulate (20-24 long x 7-10 wide) (Morgan & Anderson 1957)
- prodorsum granulate, with irregular striae
- opisthosoma granulate with widely-spaced transverse striae
- empodium I, shorter than II-III, with 3 pairs ventral tenent hairs
- empodia II-III with 4-5 pairs of ventral tenent hairs
Female
- empodium I short, with two tenent hairs
- empodia II-IV almost as long as true claws, with two ventral rows of tenent hairs
- true claws with 2 tenent hairs
- leg I longer than body
- peritreme ending in oval expansion
- prodorsal shoulders absent
- prodorsal setae v2 slightly larger than setae v1
- outer prodorsal lobes with narrow bases, somewhat triangular
- inner prodorsal lobes narrow, cone-shaped
- indentation between inner and outer prodorsal lobes deep
- indentation between inner lobes deep
- prodorsal lobes often with small distinctive spines/warts along their length (= serrations)
- prodorsum cuticle with central circular pattern with longitudinal depression
- setae v2 extend to level midway along v1
- dorsal body setae spatulate, serrate, 25-27 long x 12-17 wide
- prodorsum granulate with irregular striae
- opisthosoma granulate with transverse striae
- stylophore with median indentation anteriorly
- solenidion of duplex setae widely spaced from tactile companion seta
- leg chaetotaxy I-IV:
- femora 16, 9, 5, 5
- genua 8, 4-5, 5, 5
- tibiae 14(1), 9, 9, 9
- tarsus III 13 setae + 1 duplex set; tarsus IV 13 setae + 1 set associated setae
- dull red to greenish red with saucer shaped back
Hosts
> 70 recorded species of host plant, but most commonly associated with Rosaceae: Citrus reticulata (Rutaceae), Cydonia oblonga (Rosaceae), Ficus sp. (Moraceae), Fragaria sp. (Rosaceae), Lonicera spp. (Caprifoliaceae), Malus domestica, M. purpurea, Malus sp. (Rosaceae), Populus tremula, P. tremuloides (Salicaceae), Prunus americana, Pr. armeniaca, Pr. avium, Pr. cerasus, Pr. divaricata, Pr. domestica, Pr. dulcis, Pr. insititia, Pr. persica, Pr. pisardi, Pr. serrulata, Pr. spinosa, Pyrus communis, Py. japonica, Py. pyrifolia, Rubus spp. (Rosaceae), Ulmus americana, Ulmus sp. (Ulmaceae), Vitis sp. (Vitaceae)
Similar Taxa
Bryobia kissophila (host: Hedera spp.), B. ribis (Ribes sp.), B. praetiosa (> 250 species host) - see Notes
Biology
In Australia, this species is widespread on fruit trees where it damages the leaves and flower buds, hindering the opening of flowers. Later in summer the injury causes the foliage to become lighter in colour.
This species feeds mainly on the upper surface of leaves and eggs are deposited on both twigs and leaves. Eggs are bright red, smooth, spherical and lack a dorsal stipe.
References
Amerling, K. (1862) Die Bedeutsamkeit der Milben in der Lande-, Garten- und Forstwirtschaft. Centralbl. Ges. Landeskultur: 51
Baker, E.W. and Pritchard, A.E. (1960) The tetranychoid mites of Africa. Hilgardia 29: 455-574
Bengston, M. (1960) How to control major pests of apples and pears in the Granite Belt. Queensland Agricultural Journal 86: 102-107
Boisduval, A. (1867) Essai sur l'entomologie horticole. Paris: 648pp.
Bolland H.R., Gutierrez J., and Flechtmann C.H.W. (1998) World Catalogue of the Spider Mite Family (Acari: Tetranychidae). Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden, 392 pp.
+Froggatt, W.W. (1921) Orchard and garden mites. No. 2 - Spinning mites (Family Tetranychidae). Agricultural Gazette Sydney 32: 130-135
Frommer, R.L. and Jorgensen, C.D. (1972) Comparative morphology of Bryobia rubrioculus (Scheuten) (Acarina: Tetranychidae). Acarologia 14(3): 368-378
+Gutierrez, J. and Schicha, E. (1983) The spider mite family Tetranychidae (Acari) in New South Wales. International Journal of Acarology 9: 99-116
Livshits, I.Z. and Mitrofanov, V.I. (1971) The mites of the genus Bryobia C.L. Koch, 1836 (Acariformes, Bryobiidae). Tr. Gos . Nikit. Bot. Sada 51: 1-112
Migeon, A. and Dorkeld, F. (2006-2017) Spider Mites Web: a comprehensive database for the Tetranychidae. http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/spmweb
+Miller, L.W. (1966) The tetranychid mites of Tasmania. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 100: 53-76
Reck, G.F. (1947) Genus Bryobia Koch (Tetranychidae) described on the data material from Georgia. Soob. Akad. Nauk Gruz. S.S.R. 8: 653-660
*Scheuten, A. (1857) Einiges uber Milben. Arch. Naturg. 23: 104-114
Smiley, R.L. and Baker, E.W. (1995) A report on some tetranychid mites (Acari: Prostigmata) from Yemen. International Journal of Acarology 21: 135-164
van Endhoven, G.L. (1956) Bryobia cristata (Duges, 1834) and Bryobia rubrioculus (Scheuten, 1875) (Acar.). Notulae ad Tetranychidas 3. Entomol. Ber., Amst. 16: 45-46
Notes
Bryobia rubrioculus has long been confused with B. praetiosa.
Morgan & Anderson (1957) indicated how to separate praetiosa from rubrioculus by using the larvae (Fig. 1), and characters of the female. The two species can be separated using the length of the idiosoma, and distance between dorsal opisthosomal setae of the female: idiosoma Br 636, Bp 878; c1-c1 64 Br, 142 Bp; d1-d1 45 Br, 122 Bp; e1-e1 32 Br, 85 Bp.
Frommer and Jorgensen (1972) provide an excellent comparative study of this species' morphology, and discuss the history of misidentifications within the genus.
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