Mite Pests of Southern Highbush Blueberry in Florida

Several mite species attack southern highbush blueberries (SHB), including the southern red mite (Oligonychus ilicis McGregor (Acari: Tetranychidae)), the false spider mite or flat mite (Brevipalpus yothersi Baker) and the blueberry bud mite (Acalitus vaccinii Keifer). The southern red mite is the key mite pest attacking blueberry plants in the southeastern US (Lopez and Liburd 2020). The false spider mite is a secondary leaf feeding mite pest that was reported attacking southern highbush blueberry in 2016 (Akyazi et al. 2017). This publication discusses southern red mites and flat mites on SHB in Florida, including life cycle, damage, and management practices.

Evaluation of acaricides against false spider mite, Tenuipalpus aboharensis (Acari: Tenuipalpidae), a pest of pomegranate

False spider mites are serious pests of pomegranate and frequently cause considerable economic losses in other fruit crops as well. A field experiment conducted to evaluate eleven acaricides against Tenuipalpus aboharensis infesting pomegranate plants, revealed that wettable sulphur at 2.5 g and dicofol at 2.5 ml per litre were very effective and other acaricides viz. propargite, fenpyroximate, chlorfenapyr and buprofezin were also found effective against T. aboharensis.

Draft Genome Assembly of the False Spider Mite Brevipalpus yothersi

The false spider mite Brevipalpus yothersi infests a broad host plant range and has become one of the most economically important species within the genus Brevipalpus. This phytophagous mite inflicts damage by both feeding on plants and transmitting plant viruses.