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Fig. 1. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult female (non-type; Australia) - detail of empodium I.

Fig. 2. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult female (non-type; Australia) - detail of empodium IV.

Fig. 3. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult female (non-type; Australia) - detail of number of proximal setae on tarsus I (upper image: dorsal; lower image: ventral).

Fig. 4. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult female (non-type; Australia) - detail of pattern of pregenital striae.

Fig. 5. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult female (non-type; Australia) - detail of pattern of pregenital striae.

Fig. 6. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult female (non-type; Australia) - detail of peritreme.

Fig. 7. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult female (non-type; Australia) - detail of the pattern of dorsal striae between opisthosomal setae e1 and f1.

Fig. 8. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult female (non-type; Australia) - detail of the pattern of dorsal striae between opisthosomal setae e1 and f1.

Fig. 9. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult male (non-type; Australia) - detail of empodia I, II, IV (arrows indicate minute spur).

Fig. 10. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult male (non-type; Australia) - detail of empodium I.

Fig. 11. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult male (non-type; Australia) - detail of empodium II.

Fig. 12. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult male (non-type; Australia) - detail of aedeagus (same individual).

Fig. 13. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult male (non-type; Australia) - detail of aedeagus.

Fig. 14. Tetranychus neocaledonicus adult male (non-type; Australia) - detail of aedeagus.

Material examined

non-types

Taxonomy

Subfamily Tetranychinae

Tribe Tetranychini

Common Name

Vegetable spider mite

Distribution

+Australia, American Samoa, Angola, Bahamas, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, China, Comoro Islands, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Egypt, Fiji, French Polynesia, French West Indies, Guam Island, Hainan Island, Hawaii, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mariana Islands, Mauritius, Mozambique, *New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad, Tuvalu Islands, USA, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Wallis & Futuna, Western Samoa, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Taxonomy Changes

Eotetranychus neocaledonicus Andre 1933

Tetranychus neocaledonicus Andre, Andre 1959

Tetranychus cucurbitae Rahman & Sapra 1940, synonymy Andre 1959

Tetranychus equatorius McGregor 1950, synonymy Pritchard & Baker 1955

Diagnosis

Female

• empodia I-IV with minute (or absent) dorsal spur above proximoventral hairs (Figs 1, 2)
• tarsus I with the sockets of four tactile setae proximal to, and one solenidion overlapping, the socket of the proximal duplex seta (Fig. 3) 
• pregenital striae longitudinal and obviously broken along anterior half (broad band of broken striae anteriorly) (Figs 4, 5)
• peritreme hook moderately long (Fig. 6)
• dorsal striae between setae e1-f1 forming the classic diamond pattern - i.e. striae between e1-e1 longitudinal, between e1-f1 transverse, between f1-f1 longitudinal (Figs 7, 8)
• dorsal striae with small, semi-circular to broadly triangular lobes 
• ventral striae almost entirely without lobes, just a few scattered small lobes
• carmine, dark dull red to bright red, with white legs and gnathosoma

Male

• empodia I-IV with dorsal spur minute or absent above proximoventral hairs (Figs 9-11)
• empodia I with proximoventral hairs fused to form ventral claw (Figs 9, 10)
• aedeagus dorsally directed with tapering neck and distinct knob; anterior projection rounded (but can look like short ventrally curved hook); almost no posterior projection, reduced to small rounded bump; dorsal margin of knob strongly convex, can appear to be indented medially; shaft narrow; dorsal margin of shaft more or less parallel with ventral margin of shaft, gently curving dorsally to form short neck and knob (Figs 12-14) 
• greenish-yellow to orange

Hosts

> 400 recorded species of host plant, including: Ablemoschus esculentus, Abutilon asiaticum, Abu. greveanum, Abu. intermedium, Abu. pseudocleistogamum (Malvaceae), Acalypha glabrata, A. godseffiana, A. hispida, A. segetalis, A. stipulacea, A. wilkesiana, Aleurites fordii (Euphorbiaceae), Allium cepa, A. sativum (Alliaceae), Alocasia macrorhiza (Araceae), Amaranthus gangeticus, A. spinosus, A. viridis (Amaranthaceae), Annona glabra, A. muricata, A. squamosa (Annonaceae), Artocarpus heterophyllus, A. rigida (Moraceae), Bauhinia aculeata, B. alba, B. galpinii, B. variegata (Caesalpinaceae), Bidens pilosa (Asteraceae), Boerhavia diffusa, B. erecta, Bougainvillea spectabilis (Nyctaginaceae), Brassica chinensis, B. juncea, B. napus, B. oleracea, B. rapa (Brassicaceae), Brugmansia candida (Solanaceae), Buddleia asiatica, B. madagascariensis, B. paniculata (Buddleiaceae), Cajanus cajan (Fabaceae), Camellia sinensis (Theaceae), Capsicum annuum (Solanaceae), Carica papaya (Caricaceae), Cassia occientalis, C. siamea (Caesalpinaceae), Chloris gayana, C. inflata (Poaceae), Chrysanthemum morifolium (Asteraceae), Citrus aurantiifolia, C. grandis, C. limon, C. sinensis  (Rutaceae), Cocos nucifera (Arecaceae), Codiaeum variegatum (Euphorbiaceae), Convolvulus arvensis (Convolvulaceae), Coriandrum sativum (Apiaceae), Crotalaria juncea, C. retusa  (Fabaceae), Croton megalobotrys, C. rivularis (Euphorbiaceae), Cucumis anguria, C. melo, C. sativus, Cucurbita maxima, C. moschata, C. pepo (Cucurbitaceae), Diospyros greveana (Ebenaceae), Echinochloa colona, E. pyramidalis (Poaceae), Echium spp. (Boraginaceae), Erythrina cristagalli, E. cubensis, E. fusca (Fabaceae), Euphorbia geniculata, E. hirta, E. pulcherrima (Euphorbiaceae), Ficus carica, F. exasperata, F. fraseri, F. hemsleyana, F. racemosa (Moraceae), *Gossypium sp., Gossypium arboreum, G. barbadense, G. herbaceum, G. hirsutum (Malvaceae), Gouania lineata, G. mauritiana (Rhamnaceae), Grewia andramparo (Tiliaceae), Hibiscus cannabinus, H. liliiflorus, H. mutabilis, H. physaloides, H. rosa-sinensis, H. syriacus, H. vitifolius (Malvaceae), Impatiens balsamina (Balsaminaceae), Ipomoea amoena, I. batatas, I. coscinosperma, I. involucrata, I. pes-caprae, I. quamoclit  (Convolvulaceae), Lippia javanica (Verbenaceae), Luffa acutangula, L. cylindrica (Cucurbitaceae), Malus domestica, M. formosana (Rosaceae), Mangifera indica (Anacardiaceae), Manihot esculenta, M. pseudoglaziovii (Euphorbiaceae), Morus alba, M. indica, M. nigra (Moraceae), Musa sapientum (Musaceae), Passiflora edulis, P. foetida, P. quadrangularis (Passifloraceae), Phaseolus lunatus, P. saurius, P. vulgaris (Fabaceae), Phyllanthus acidus, P. amarus (Euphorbiaceae), Physalis peruviana (Solanaceae), Prunus mume, P. persica (Rosaceae), Pueraria hirsuta, P. lobata (Fabaceae), Rosa indica, R. minutifolia (Rosaceae), Sida acuta, S. rhombifolia, S. spinosa, S. veronicaefolia (Malvaceae), Solanum erythracanthum, S. gilo, S. incanum, S. indicum, S. macrocarpon, S. maurtitianum, S. melongena, S. nigrum, S. panduraeforme, S. torvum, S. verbascifolium (Solanaceae), Sorghum bicolor (Poaceae), Tecoma ochracea, T. stans (Bignoniaceae), Trifolium alexandrinum, T. repens (Fabaceae), Veronia amygdalina, V. appendiculata, V. poissonii (Asteraceae), Vigna aconitifolia, V. capensis, V. mungo, V. radiata, V. unguiculata (Fabaceae), Vitis vinifera (Vitaceae), Zea mays (Poaceae)

Biology

Tetranychus neocaledonicus is a major pest that often requires management through pesticide application or biological control agents.  This species is not a major pest in New South Wales and is most likely more restricted to warmer areas where the temperature rarely drops below 10°C (Gutierrez & Schicha 1983).  This species is very common in the Brisbane area, on many cultivated plants and weeds, and is listed as a minor pest of citrus (Gerson 2003).

References

*Andre, M. (1933)  Note sure un Tetranyque nuisible au cotonnier en Nouvell-Caledonie.  Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris (ser. 2) 5: 302-308

Andre, M. (1959)  Note complementaire su Tetranychus neocaledonicus Andre.  Acarologia 1: 53-55

+Davis, J.J. (1968a)  Studies of Queensland Tetranychidae. 3. Records of the genus Tetranychus.  Queensland Journal of Agricultural and Animal Sciences 25: 57-67

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

Migeon, A. and Dorkeld, F. (2006-2017) Spider Mites Web: a comprehensive database for the Tetranychidae. http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/spmweb

Pritchard, A.E. and Baker, E.W. (1955)  A revision of the spider mite family Tetranychidae.  Pacific Coast Entomology Society Memoirs 2: 1-472

Rahman, K.A. and Sapra, A.N. (1940)  Mites of the family Tetranychidae from Lyallpur with descriptions of four new species.  Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Science, Ser. B 11: 177-196

Notes

Often identified in the field as T. urticae.