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Fig. 1. O. grypus adult female paratype - detail of claw I and IV.

Fig. 3. Oligonychus grypus adult female paratype - detail of claws I and IV.

Fig. 2. Oligonychus grypus adult female paratype - detail of claws I and IV.

Fig. 4. Oligonychus grypus adult female paratype - detail of pattern of pregenital striae.

Fig. 5. Oligonychus grypus adult female paratype - detail of pattern of pregenital striae.

Fig. 6. Oligonychus grypus adult female paratype - detail of pattern of dorsal striae between setae e1-f1 (transverse), f1-f1 (longitudinal), and f2-f2 (oblique to transverse).

Fig. 7. Oligonychus grypus adult female paratype - detail of pattern of dorsal striae between setae e1-f1 (transverse), f1-f1 (longitudinal), and f2-f2 (oblique to transverse).

Fig. 8. Oligonychus grypus adult female paratype - detail of pattern of dorsal striae between setae e1-f1 (transverse), f1-f1 (longitudinal), and f2-f2 (oblique to transverse).

Fig. 9. Oligonychus grypus adult female paratype - detail of peritreme (arrows indicate tip - shaped like a golf-club).

Fig. 10. Oligonychus grypus adult female paratype - detail of peritreme (arrow indicates tip).

Fig. 11. Oligonychus grypus adult male holotype and paratype - detail of empodium I.

Fig. 12. Oligonychus grypus adult male holotype - detail of empodium II.

Fig. 13. Oligonychus grypus adult male paratype - detail of empodia III and IV.

Fig. 14. Oligonychus grypus adult male holotype - detail of peritreme (arrow indicates tip).

Fig. 15. Oligonychus grypus adult male paratype - detail of peritreme (arrow indicates tip).

Fig. 16. Oligonychus grypus adult male - detail of aedeagus: a. holotype; b.-d. paratypes.

Fig. 17. Oligonychus grypus adult male holotype - detail of aedeagus (at different focal points).

Fig. 18. Oligonychus grypus adult male paratypes - detail of aedeagus.

Material examined

types

Taxonomy

Subfamily Tetranychinae

Tribe Tetranychini

Distribution

^^NOT PRESENT IN AUSTRALIA

Specimens have been recorded from the Torres Strait; however I have not examined these specimens - see Notes.

Brazil, Cameroon, *Congo, Cuba, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Zaire, Zimbabwe

Taxonomy Changes

None

Diagnosis

Female

• empodia I-IV =  long slender claw, as long or longer than proximoventral hairs (Figs 1, 2, 3)
• lobes on dorsal striae semicircular, widely spaced
• pregenital striae longitudinal, becoming oblique laterally (Figs 4, 5)
• dorsal striae transverse, except longitudinal between opisthosomal setae f1 and f2 (Figs 6, 7, 8)
• peritreme ending in short perpendicular expansion, like a golf club (Fig. 9), or with slightly expanded tip (Fig. 10)
• tarsus I with the sockets of four tactile setae proximal and one solenidion adjacent to the socket of the proximal duplex seta
• chaetotaxy for legs I-IV:
  • femora 10, 6, 4, 4
  • genua 5, 5, 4, 4
  • tibiae 10(1+0), 7, 6, 7

Male

• empodium I = bifid claw, dorsal and ventral claws stout, subequal in length (Fig. 11) 
• empodia II-IV with long slender dorsal claw, about equal in length to proximoventral hairs (Figs 12, 13)
• peritreme ending in short perpendicular expansion, like a golf club, or with slightly expanded tip (Figs 14, 15)
• tarsus I with the sockets of four tactile and three solenidia proximal to the socket of the proximal duplex seta
• chaetotaxy for legs I-IV:
  • femora 10, 6, 4, 4
  • genua 5, 5, 4, 4
  • tibiae 13(4+0), 7, 6, 7
• aedeagus dorsally directed, sigmoid in shape; no anterior projection; posterior projection is an elongate tapered finger directed dorsally at strong angle (approx. 45°) anteriorly back over shaft then strongly curved posteriorly at similar angle, with no knob; shaft short, dorsal margin of shaft at strong angle creating an acute dorsal angle at base of dorsal projection (Figs 16, 17, 18)

Hosts

Recorded hosts include mainly Poaceae: Arundinaria sp., Cissampelos sp., Colocasia sp., Echinochloa colonum, Ehrharta sp., Eleusine indica, Heteropogon sp., Leptochloa sp., Panicum sp., Rottboelia cochinchinensis, Setaria sp., Urochloa sp., *Saccharum officinarum, Sorghum bicolor, Oryza sativa, Pennisetum purpureum, Zea mays; and Manihot esculenta (Euphorbiaceae), Musa sapeintum (Musaceae).

Similar Taxa

Oligonychus zanclopes Beard & Walter 2003

References

*Baker, E.W. and Pritchard, A.E. (1960)  The tetranychoid mites of Africa.  Hilgardia 29: 455-574

Beard, J.J., Walter, D.E. and Allsopp, P.G. (2003)  Spider mites of sugarcane in Australia: a review of grass-feeding Oligonychus Berlese (Acari: Prostigmata: Tetranychidae).  Australian Journal of Entomology 42: 71-78

+Gutierrez, J. and Schicha, E. (1983)  The spider mite family Tetranychidae (Acari) in New South Wales.  International Journal of Acarology 9: 99-116

Notes

^^ Oligonychus grypus has most likely been mistakenly recorded as being present in Australia by Gutierrez & Schicha (1983) (Beard et al. 2003).  A comparison of the type material of O. grypus with specimens previously identified as O. grypus collected from Sydney clearly indicated that the Australian material was not O. grypus.  These specimens and others collected in southeast Queensland in outbreak numbers in sugarcane, were in fact a previously undescribed species, now called O. zanclopes Beard & Walter.  As not all Australian material has been examined (e.g. specimens collected in the Torres Strait), it cannot be stated for sure that this species is absent from Australia.