Pests Control and Acarology

Edited by Dalila Haouas and Levente Hufnagel

 Pests Control
and Acarology
Edited by Dalila Haouas
and Levente Hufnagel

Published in London, United Kingdom

Supporting open minds since 2005
Pests Control and Acarology
[Link]
Edited by Dalila Haouas and Levente Hufnagel

Contributors
Hamadttu El-Shafie, Loth S. Mulungu, Bernard M. Mchukya, Laurent L. Mnyone, Talha Nazir, Sehroon
Khan, Dewen Qiu, Abou Togola, Ousmane Boukar, Manuele Tamo, Siva Chamarthi, Carlos Vásquez, Yelitza
Colmenarez, Muhammad Sarwar, Sigmund Hågvar, Levente Hufnagel, Ferenc Mics, Réka Homoródi,
Merlin Isaac Kamala

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 Meet the editors

Dr. Dalila Haouas is an assistant professor at the Graduate

Agriculture School of Kef, University of Jendouba, Tunisia. She
teaches Agricultural Entomology and Zoology. Her research
interests include invasive and emergent insects on crops, botan-
ical extracts and products for insect pest management. She has
published articles in many international journals such as Indus-
trial Crops and Products, Journal of Pest Science, Chemistry and
Biodiversity, Bulletin OEPP/EPPO Bulletin, and Shilap-Revista De Lepidopterologia.
She has also presented many papers at conferences, both locally and abroad. She is a
reviewer of articles and chapters in impacted and indexed international journals.

Dr. Levente Hufnagel is an associate professor at Szent István

University, Gödöllő, Hungary, in climate change and ecosystem
ecology, biogeography, biometrics, and ecological research meth-
odology. He has over 20 years of experience leading Hungarian
academic institutions teaching PhD, MSc, and BSc students from
various social and cultural backgrounds. He has more than 160
scientific publications (in both aquatic and terrestrial ecological
aspects of plants, animals, and microbes, at community as well as population level)
and more than 700 independent citations. As a participant of several big ecological
research and development projects, he has significant experience in multidisci-
plinary cooperations (with more than 180 coauthors in different publications). As
the supervisor of several PhD, BSc, and MSc theses, and as editor-in-chief of an
international scientific journal indexed by Web of Science and Scopus, he has broad
supervising and editing experience. Dr Hufnagel graduated from Eötvös Lorand
University with a Master degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a PhD
degree in Hydrobiology. He also graduated from Szent István University with a PhD
degree in Agricultural Science.
Contents

Preface XIII

Section 1
Definition and Concepts 1

Chapter 1 3
Integrated Insect Pest Management
by Hamadttu Abdel Farag El-Shafie

Chapter 2 21
Biological Control of Insect Pest
by Talha Nazir, Sehroon Khan and Dewen Qiu

Section 2
Pest Management in Cereals 35

Chapter 3 37
Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a New Tool for Rodent Pest Management in
Irrigated Rice in Africa
by Loth S. Mulungu, Bernard M. Mchukya and Laurent L. Mnyone

Chapter 4 59
Stem Borers of Cereal Crops in Africa and Their Management
by Abou Togola, Ousmane Boukar, Manuele Tamo and Siva Chamarthi

Section 3
Acarology 69

Chapter 5 71
Prologue: Scientific and Societal Importance of Mites and Acarology From the
Viewpoint of International Publication
by Levente Hufnagel, Ferenc Mics and Réka Homoródi

Chapter 6 81
Ecological Spotlights on Mites (Acari) in Norwegian Conifer Forests: A Review
by Sigmund Hågvar

Chapter 7 103
Invasive Mite Species in the Americas: Bioecology and Impact
by Carlos Vásquez and Yelitza Colmenárez
Chapter 8 123
Biology and Ecology of Some Predaceous and Herbivorous Mites Important
from the Agricultural Perception
by Muhammad Sarwar

Chapter 9 153
Bioecology of Jasmine Mite, Tetranychus urticae in Different Jasmine Cultivars
by Isaac Merlin Kamala

XII
 Preface

The imperatives of productivity, which impose high yields of quality plant products
combined with the specialization of crops by region, make plant protection a vital
activity in agriculture. Pest control has made huge progress during the 20th century.
This progress has been made possible by scientific and technical breakthroughs,
particularly in chemistry (analytical and synthetic) and in biology (population
dynamics, ecosystem analysis, biological control theory and practice, biotechnology).
For these reasons, and to ensure food safety, several methods of protection are
used. Indeed, after the Second World War, the appearance of inexpensive synthetic
products, easy to use, and with a broad field of action led, at first, to an irrational
use, too often repeated as a kind of all-risk protection, even in the absence of pests.
This systematic or anarchic implementation of protective treatment quickly led
to pollution and environmental problems. These pesticides have contributed to
early outbreaks of pests resulting from the destruction of native entomophagous
organisms, the emergence of pest populations resistant to various groups of
insecticides, and pesticide residue accumulation in food products. New approaches
have been required and adopted as an alternative to reduce pesticide impact on the
environment. These are Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies. According
to FAO, Integrated Pest Management represents a crop management system, in the
environmental context and changing pest populations, using all available control
techniques, in the most consistent manner possible, to maintain pest levels below the
threshold of economic harm. This management must ensure that there is no complete
dependence on a single control method and take into account the economic, social,
and environmental consequences of control strategies.

This book describes novel methods adopted in pest management for cereal crops
and fruit trees. Each chapter has been written by experts in their respective areas
and provides a rigorous review and outline of current trends and future needs,
to expedite progress in the field. We have structured the nine chapters of Pests
Control and Acarology into three sections. In the first section, there is the definition
and concept of Integrated Pest Management (Chapter 1) and biological control
(Chapter 2). The second section includes two chapters: the first one presents the
Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a new tool for rodent pest management in irrigated
rice, while the second one discusses the stem borers of cereal crops in Africa and
their management. The third section presents strategies for controlling mites.

I would like to thank all contributors for the time and effort that they devoted to
prepare their chapters. It is their participation that makes our efforts to organize such
a book possible. In addition, special thanks to IntechOpen’s staff and editorial board.

Dalila Haouas
University of Jendouba,
Tunisia
 Levente Hufnagel
Szent István University,
Hungary

XIV
 Section 1

Definition and Concepts

1
Chapter 1

Integrated Insect Pest

Management
Hamadttu Abdel Farag El-Shafie

Abstract

Insect pests cause substantial losses to food and fiber crops worldwide.
Additionally, they vector human and domestic animal diseases. The dependence on
pesticides as a sole method of control has resulted in the development of insect resis-
tance and negative effects on human health, natural enemies, and the environment.
The concept of integrated pest management (IPM) originated almost 60 years ago in
response to these negative impacts of pesticides. Currently, IPM is a robust paradigm
of pest control around the globe. This chapter reviews the history of IPM, its main
principles, decision-making rules, the components, and main tactical methods used.
Innovative tactical methods such as sterile insect technique (SIT), incompatible
insect technique (IIT), and push-pull strategy are discussed. Moreover, challenges of
implementation and future prospects of IPM are highlighted.

Keywords: insect pest, integrated pest management, economic threshold,

economic injury level, decision rules, ecosystem

1. Introduction

Insects appeared on earth about 390 million years and have diversified into sev-
eral million species that have adapted to almost all available ecosystems. This large
diversity has allowed them to compete with humans effectively since the introduc-
tion of agriculture over the last ten millennia [1]. Based on new methods of estima-
tion, there are about 5.5 million species of insects on the earth planet with 1 million
identified species, which represent only about 20% of the total estimated number.
Previously, the global number of insects was estimated to be 30 million based on
host specificity; however, this number seems to be not true [2]. Insects are by far the
most successful group of animal on earth and are thus essential component of the
ecosystem both economically and ecologically as they make up more than 75% of
the world’s animal species. Entomology has tremendously developed in recent years
and contributed much in the development of other fundamental biological sciences.
Today, many insect species are being used as model organisms to study the genomic
and proteomic of many organisms. Invasive insect species such as the red palm
weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus), the fall army worm (Spodoptera frugiperda),
the spotted drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), and the brown marmorated stink bug
(Halyomorpha halys) are expanding their geographical range and, thus, threaten-
ing agricultural crops at a global level [3–6]. According to their mode of nutrition,
insects are classified into different categories including herbivores, predators,
fungivores, and scavengers. Insects together with weeds and diseases destroy about

3
Pests Control and Acarology

40% of the world food production during preharvest phase while approximately
20% is lost during storage [7]. The estimated global losses due to insect pests are
500 billion US$ and by adopting good pest management practices, the losses can be
reduced by 42.6% [8].
Well before 2500 B.C., the Sumerians were using sulfur compounds to control
insects and mites. By 1200 B.C., the Chinese developed plant-derived insecticides
or what is called botanicals today for seed treatment and fumigation uses. They also
used chalk and wood ash for prevention and control of both household and stored
product pests. In late 1940s, DDT was discovered as a powerful insecticide announc-
ing a new era of pest control [9]. The heavy use of chemical pesticides caused serious
environmental problems without achieving final solutions to insect pest problems.
These drawbacks of the unwise use of pesticides inspired entomologist to think of
integrated pest management (IPM) in 1959 as a new paradigm of insect control [10].

2. Origin and history of IPM

The concept of IPM emerged about 60 years ago when entomologists from
California, USA observed that the sole use of chemical pesticides could not be the
solution to insect pests’ problem. Insect resistance to organosynthetic insecticides,
resurgence of primary pests, upsurges of secondary pests, and environmental pollu-
tion initiated the notion of IPM [11]. It has been emphasized that chemical control
should be employed to reduce a pest population only when natural controls are
inadequate. Intervention to control pest should also be made when populations rise
to levels that cause economic damage. Additionally, the cost of control must cover
the amount lost due to the pest damage and negative effect on the ecosystem, due to
the application of pesticide, and should be to the minimum [12]. The IPM concept
has three basic elements:

1. maintaining insect populations below levels that cause economic damage;

2. using multiple tactics, in an integrated fashion, to manage insect populations;

and

3. conserving environment quality.

As shown in Table 1, the publication of the book “silent spring” is considered

one of the most important events that hastened the perception of IPM as a new par-
adigm of pest control. The adoption and support given to IPM by the FAO in 1967
is a major factor behind the development of IPM. Additionally, the establishment

Date Event Reference

Late The concept of supervised control [13]

1940s

1959 The concept of integrated control [10]

1961 The Australian ecologists proposed the term “Pest   ” [14]

1962 Publication of the book “
t Spring” [15]

1966 The term “Pest Management” received recognition in USA [16]

1967 The term “Integrated Pest Management” was used by Smith and Van den Bosch [17]

1967 FAO panel of experts accepted the term “Integrated Pest Control” as a synonym [18]
for Integrated Pest Management

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Intd Insect Pest Management
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Date Event Reference

1969 The US National Academy of Science formally accepted the term Integrated Pest [16]
Management

1972 Integrated pest management and its acronym IPM were incorporated into English [11]
literature and accepted by the scientific community

1972 The report Int d Pest Management prepared by the Council on Environmental [19]
Quality was published

1988 Major IP success in rice systems in Indonesia [8]

1989 Farmer Field School (FFS) became a preferred extension methodology for IPM [20]

1992 IPM was recommended for pest management under Agenda 21 of the United [21]
Nations Conference on Environment and Development

1993– IPM initiative of the Clinton Administration [22]

2000

2011 IPM programs are operational in more than 60 developing and developed [23]
countries

2011 IPM adopted as a policy within sustainable use of pesticides Directive 91/414/EEC [12]
in the form of regulation (EC Regulation 1107/2009), which came into force in
June 2011

2014 The EU Frame work Directive on sustainable use of pesticides (Directive [24]
2009/128/EC) requires that all EU Member States develop a National Action Plan,
which ensures that asset of eight general principles of IPM are implemented by all
professional pesticide users starting from January 1, 2014

Table 1.
History and chronological development of IPM.

of Farmers Fields Schools (FFS) in 1989 for rice field in Asia, as extension meth-
ods, hastened the adoption and application of IPM at farmer level. Recently, the
European Union has adopted IPM as a policy for management of insect pests.
The integrated pest management is now the ideal system for protection of agri-
cultural crops, domestic animals, stored products, public health, and the structure
of human dwellings against the attack of arthropod pests, plant and animal dis-
eases, and weeds [1, 11, 25].

3. IPM definitions

Between 1959 and 2000, 67 definitions of IPM appeared in the literature, most of
them included using natural or ecologically sound principles or techniques, prevent-
ing pests from reaching the economically damaging levels, and using multiple tactics
such as cultural, biological, and chemical. The expression economics, environment,
pest populations, and pest control appeared in these definitions of IPM with fre-
quencies of 53.8, 48.1, 40.4, and 38.3%, respectively [25]. All IPM definitions include
the following: (i) the appropriate selection of pest control methods and decision
rules for selection, (ii) economic benefits to growers and society, (iii) the benefits to
the environment, and (iv) considering the impact of pest complex [10, 11, 18, 24].

4. Objectives of IPM

IPM has three main objectives: first, maintaining a balanced sustainable ecosys-
tem and a healthy environment by reducing the use of pesticides and their negative

5
Pests Control and Acarology

impacts; second, saving money by reducing chemical pesticides inputs, crop losses
due to insect damage and eventually by reducing the pest management cost; and
third, protecting human and animal health by providing food and feed that is free
of pesticide residues [26].

5. General principles of IPM

According to the EU Framework Directive 2009/128/EC, there are eight principles

of IPM that should be strictly followed by all members of the European Union start-
ing from January 2014 [15]. Barzman et al. [27] described these principles as follows:

5.1 Prevention and suppression

The first line of defense in IPM is to prevent and suppress insect pest population
through nonchemical methods such as cultural practices, use of resistant varieties,
proper irrigation and fertilization, and natural enemies.

5.2 Monitoring

Continuous surveillance and monitoring of insect pests population is essential

for assessment of damage and for determining the needs for actions to be taken.

5.3 Decision-making

Management decisions should be based on monitoring and population levels of

insect pests, as well as reliable thresholds.

5.4 Nonchemical methods

Sustainable biological, physical, and other nonchemical methods must be

preferred to chemical methods if they provide satisfactory pest control.

5.5 Pesticide selection

Selective pesticides, which have minor negative impacts on human health and
beneficial insects, shall be used only when needed.

5.6 Reduced pesticide use

Pesticide use should be kept to the minimum through reduction of doses

and application frequency without encouraging resistance development in pest
populations.

5.7 Antiresistance strategies

Pesticide resistance in insect should be managed carefully using strategies such

as application of pesticides with different modes of action.

5.8 Evaluation

The success of control tactics must be measured using indicators based on

monitoring of harmful organisms, beneficials, pesticide use, and impact on the
environment.

6
Integrated Insect Pest Management
DOI: [Link]

6. Important terminologies in IPM

Pest: any organism that causes damage or inconvenience to human or his posses-
sions [28].
Natural enemy of a pest: a natural enemy of a pest can be predator, parasitoid,
nematode, and pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi) [29].
Population: a group of individuals of the same species in a given area that
provides the ecological requirements of the species [10].
Population regulation: the return of a population to an equilibrium density, fol-
lowing departure from that density, because of density-dependent processes [28].
Insect pest complex: the number of insect species associated with a particular crop [28].
Major insect pest (key pest): species of insects, which has a high reproductive
potential and is capable of causing economic damage on their host [28].
Minor insect pest: insect species that is not capable of causing damage of eco-
nomic importance.
Secondary or sporadic insect pest: insect species with population level that occa-
sionally grows beyond its economic injury threshold [28].
Economic damage (ED): occurs when the cost of preventable crop damage
exceeds the cost of control. For example, if the wheat is worth $ 10 a bushel and
insecticide cost $ 15 an acre, then economic damage occurs when insect damage
causes a yield loss of 1.5 or more bushels an acre (Ed ꞊ cost of treatment/crop value ꞊
$ 15/$ 10/bushel ꞊ 1.5 bushel).
Economic-injury level (EIL): the lowest population density that will cause
economic damage. Economic damage is the amount of injury, which will justify the
cost of artificial control measures; consequently, the economic-injury level may
vary from area to area, season to season, or with man’s changing scale of economic
values.
Economic threshold (ET): the density at which control measures should be
determined to prevent an increasing pest population from reaching the eco-
nomic-injury level. The economic threshold is lower than the economic injury
level to permit sufficient time for the initiation of control measures and for
these measures to take effect before the population reaches the economic-injury
level [10] (Figure 1).

Figure 1.
The economic threshold and the economic injury level.

7
Pests Control and Acarology

7. Decision rules in IPM

Identification of pest is essential to gather information about its biology, ecol-

ogy, and behavior and monitoring population levels. Monitoring includes various
activities and procedures that detect and document the presence, growth, and
population development or populations levels of an organism. Monitoring is the key
to a successful IPM program. Adequate monitoring tools should include trappings
using pheromones and light traps, observations in the field as well as scientifically
sound warning, forecasting, and early diagnosis systems [27]. Advantages of pest
monitoring include early warnings, detection of presence and distribution of pests
and their natural enemies, study the impact of weather and other environmental
factor on pest/beneficial populations, provision of historical record of the farm,
and evaluation of control programs [30]. Visual counts, sweep nets, drop sheets,
and vacuum pumps are also useful tools in sampling of field insects.
El-Shafie and Faleiro [31] gave comprehensive accounts on the use of semiochem-
icals in monitoring and mass trapping of insects. Operational monitoring program
is used in IPM to evaluate field situation and should be simple, quick, cost-effective,
and adaptable to farmers [30]. There are four methods of sampling insect in the field:
random sampling, point sampling, trap sampling, and sequential sampling. More
details on sampling of insect pests are given by Flint and van den Bosch [30].

7.1 Pheromones as a monitoring tool

Pheromone-baited traps are commonly used for population monitoring and for
mass trapping because they have the following advantages:

1. pheromones are species specific and are, thus, easy to use by untrained people;

2. they function at both small and large pest populations;

3. suitable for early detection and delimitation of infestation by invasive pests;

4. can be used in estimation of population size and determination of number of

generations; and

Figure 2.
Equilibrium point is well below the economic injury level. Control action is not needed (modified after
Luckmann and Metcalf [33]).

8
Integrated Insect Pest Management
DOI: [Link]

Figure 3.
Equilibrium is below EIL; however, the pest population may reach the ET, and intervention is needed to
prevent it from reaching EIT (modified after Luckmann and Metcalf [33]).

5. provide efficient and cheap alternatives to the laborious field scouting.

All of the above make the pheromone-baited traps a useful tool in integrated
pest management (IPM) decision-making [32].
In situation where the economic injury level for an insect species is above its
equilibrium position (Figure 2), the insect is not considered a pest and no decision
is needed to control it. However, when the economic injury level is well below the
equilibrium position, the insect requires continuous management intervention [33].
Sometimes, the population of the insect pest may reach the economic injury
level, even if the equilibrium is well below the economic injury level. In such case,
the decision of intervention to control the pest is need to be taken (Figure 3). For
mathematical calculations of ET and EIL, see Pedigo et al. [34].

8. Components of IPM

The more that you know about a pest, the easier and more successful pest
management becomes. Once you have identified a pest, you can access information

Figure 4.
Components of IPM program.

9
Pests Control and Acarology

about its life cycle and behavior, the factors that favor development, and the recom-
mended control procedures. Following identification of an insect pest is monitoring
to determine the pest status. If there is a need to control the pest, based on monitor-
ing, then you develop a management program followed by implementation and
evaluation as illustrated in Figure 4.

9. IPM tactical methods

IPM methods include both chemical and nonchemical means to prevent and
control pest populations from reaching economically damaging levels. These
prevention and control tactics include biological, mechanical, cultural, physical,
genetic, chemical, and regulatory methods. The method to be chosen for IPM
depends on many factors, the important of which are nature of target pest, the envi-
ronment, and economic aspect of the management. Selection of control method
should be based on effectiveness and evaluation of any risk that might occur during
application of the method.

9.1 Cultural control

Cultural control in cultivated crops include resistant plant varieties, timing of

planting and harvesting, irrigation, fertilization, crop rotation, and trap crops.
The aim of good cultural practices is to provide congenial environment for the crop
while making it unfavorable for pests’ development. Thus, cultural control pre-
vents the build-up and outbreaks of pests [28]. Additionally, cultural practices are
useful in conservation of beneficial insects, and accordingly, they are essential and
effective component of IPM. Tillage practices can destroy pests and their different
developmental stages by mechanical injury, desiccation, and exposure to predators
and environmental factors [33]. Phytosanitation through collection and removal of
crop remains removes many diapausing larvae, eggs, and pathogens. Eradication of
infested date palm is a good practice to reduce infestation by the red palm weevil in
date palm plantation [3]. Host plant resistance is compatible with other IPM tactics
and can provide reasonable degree of protection to plants without causing negative
effects on the environment [8].

Figure 5.
Push-pull strategy.

10
Integrated Insect Pest Management
DOI: [Link]

9.1.1 Push-pull strategy (PPS)

This strategy is based on intercropping, which fit well under cultural practices
section. Simultaneously, it is also based on semiochemicals particularly allomones
and kairomones [35]. The pests are repelled or deterred away from a plant (push)
through allomones that can be repellents or deterrents and are simultaneously
attracted (pull) by kairomones to trap crops where they can be killed or removed
[35] (Figure 5).
Plants which are effective, so far, in the push-pull tactics include Napier grass
(Pennisetum purpureum), Sudan grass (Sorghum vulgare sudanense), molasses grass
(Melinis minutiflora), and desmodium (Desmodium uncinatum and Desmodium
intortum). Napier grass and Sudan grass are used for pulling insect pest, whereas
molasses grass and desmodium repel or push ovipositing female insects. This
strategy has been working in protection of maize and sorghum against damaging
stem borers in Africa [36].

9.2 Mechanical and physical control

Mechanical and physical controls prevent pests form accessing their resources by
making the environment unsuitable for them. They also negatively affect impor-
tant biological parameters of pests such as feeding, reproduction, dispersal, and
survival. Physical control methods may include heat and steam sterilization of soil,
which are commonly used in the management of greenhouse insect pests. Insect
pests can be excluded from plants by using screens, barriers, fences, and nets, as
well as light trapping (Figure 6). Mechanical and physical controls are carried out
purposely for pest control, which differentiate them from cultural practices [28].

9.3 Biological control

Biological control is defined as the action of parasites, predators, or pathogens on

a host or prey population, which produces a lower general equilibrium, position than
would prevail in the absence of these agents [10]. A good biological control agent
should be characterized by the following traits: specialization on the host, compatible
with other natural enemies, capable of rapid reproduction, adapted to the environ-
ment where the host exists, and efficient in finding prey at low densities. There are
three major types of augmented biological control: classical, inoculative, and inunda-
tive. These are distinguished by the input needed to create a balance between the pest
and natural enemy populations. These three categories are defined as follows:
Classical biological control involves introducing natural enemies from a pest’s
native range into a new area where native natural enemies do not provide control.
Inoculative biological control means releasing natural enemies periodically or
seasonally to reestablish a balance that has not been maintained naturally or has
been disrupted by other control methods.
Inundative biological control involves the massive production and release of
natural enemies to control the pest quickly.
Control of cottony cushion scale (Icerya purchase—Maskell) by vedalia beetles
(Rodolia cardinalis) imported from Australia in 1888 was the first great success and
it had greatly benefited the California citrus industry and ignited interest in this
practice in the State [37]. Nine species of Trichogramma parasitoid are reared in pri-
vate- or government-owned insectaries around the world and released annually on
an estimated 80 million acres of agricultural crops and forests in 30 countries [38].
In Germany and Austria, the control of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella
(Huebner), and the Mediterranean flour moth, Cadra kuehniella (Zeller), in food

11
Pests Control and Acarology

Figure 6.
Solar-powered insect light trap.

processing facilities is achieved by releasing large quantities of T hogramma

evanescens Westwood using the inundative release strategy [39].
Manipulations of insect reproductive systems techniques such as sterilized insect
technique (SIT) and incompatible insect technique (IIT) provide innovative and
environmental-friendly methods for IPM. These techniques are considered as part
of the biological control and thus are discussed in this section (Figure 7).
The SIT involves the mass release of sterilized males, which mate with wild
females. Sterilization of males using ionizing radiation causes dominant lethal
mutation in the sperm. The mating of sterile males with wild females results in zero
offspring. The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been successfully used for the man-
agement of some major insect pests [5]. According to Barnes et al. [40], successful
application of SIT depends on the following factors:

1. the target insect pest should be characterized by low population levels;

2. knowledge on the bionomics and genetic of target insect pest;

3. the availability of techniques for mass rearing, releasing, and monitoring of

large numbers of viable sterile insects;

4. the release of sterile insects over a wide area to cover the whole population; and

5. the released sterile insects should not be harmful or harmless to humans and
the environment.

Another radiation technique is partial male sterility technique (IS), which is

used mainly for lepidopterans because full sterilization affects their performance
under field conditions. The mating of partially sterilized males with wild females
results in sterile male-biased offspring [41].
Wolbachia is an endosymbiont bacterium that is capable of manipulating the
reproduction of its host insect. It increases the frequency of Wolbachia-infected

12
Integrated Insect Pest Management
DOI: [Link]

Figure 7.
Techniques of manipulating sexual reproduction of insect pests for their management (modified after Harari
et al. [32]).

females in the host populations by causing feminization, parthenogenesis, male

killing, and cytoplasmic incompatibility [42]. The cytoplasmic incompatibility
(CI) is also called incompatible insect technique (IIT) and has been used against
insect pests and disease vectors such as med fly, tsetse fly, and mosquitoes. A
strain of Wolbachia was taken from Drosophila melanogaster and introduced into
the mosquito A. albopictus, the vector of the dengue virus, in order to control the
disease. Consequently, the mosquitoes become unable to transmit the dengue virus
[43]. The infected males produce no offspring after mating with local females (CI),
followed by a decrease in the local mosquito populations and a relative increase in
Wolbachia-infected females that do not transmit the virus [44].
Both SIT and IIT can be combined together, and they are compatible with con-
ventional biological control using parasitoid, predators, and pathogens. SIT allows
both sexes to be released, while in case of IIT, only males should be released. The
release of Wolbachia-infected females may result in production of viable offsprings
if the released females are compatible with either wild or released males [5].

9.4 Chemical control

Pesticides should only be used when necessary to keep pest populations below
that cause economic damage. Selective pesticides, which have the least negative
effects on the environment, should be used according to principles 5, 6, and 7 of
IPM. Botanicals and microbial (biorational) pesticides should be given priority
in selection. The efficacy of these biorational pesticides may be increased when
applied together [27]. A variety of selected pesticides must be applied precisely in
the field and at right doses to prevent the development of insects’ resistance [26].

10. AW-IPM

The integration of a number of different control tactics into IPM systems

can be done in ways that greatly facilitate the achievement of the goals either

13
Pests Control and Acarology

Figure 8.
Pheromone-baited trap for monitoring and mass trapping of red palm weevil.

of field-by-field pest management, or of area-wide (AW) pest management,

which is the management of the total pest population within a delimited area
[1]. Knipling [45] used simple population models to demonstrate that small
insect pest population left without management can compromise the efforts of
containment of pest population in a large area. AW-IPM programs should be
coordinated by organizations rather than by individual farmers to insure full
participation in the program [46]. Pheromone-based control tactics including
mass capturing of using pheromone traps (Figure 8) proved to be effective
against a variety of insect pests in area-wide IPM programs. The pests’ behavior
and ecology including their natural enemies should be considered when plan-
ning future AW-IPM programs [32].

11. Implementation of IPM program

Successful IPM depends mainly on basic research on ecosystem and the under-
standing of interactions among hosts, pests, and their natural enemies [11]. The
following steps should be taken before implementing an IPM program:

• identify the pest;

• specify the goal of the program;

• set up a monitoring program;

• know the pest level that triggers control;

• know what control methods are available; and

• evaluate the benefits and risks of each method.

The socioeconomic factor is important in the implementation of IPM. For exam-

ple, the decision to include a new variety resistant to insects may also depend on

14
Integrated Insect Pest Management
DOI: [Link]

the market value of that variety. A suitable extension methodology such as Farmer
Field School (FFS) can help disseminate the IPM among farmers. Preparation of
guidelines that include the principles of IPM for different crops is essential during
the implementation phase. Moreover, the continuous evaluation of IPM programs
provides feedback for future adjustment and improvement [27].

12. Indicators of measuring impact of IPM

It is extremely important to record and evaluate the results of your control

efforts. Some control methods, especially nonchemical procedures, are slow to
yield measurable results. Other methods may be ineffective or even damaging to the
target crop, animal, treated surface, or natural predators and parasites. Pesticide use
by volume, pesticide use by treatment frequency index, reduction in use of more
toxic pesticides, and environmental impact quotient have been used as IPM impact
evaluation indicators [22].

13. Future prospects of IPM

Since 1959, no major departures from the basic notion of IPM have occurred
[11]. In the future, major advances in IPM are expected in decision-making
techniques as well as tactical options for control methods. Combination of tech-
nologies and tools, simulation, modeling, BD, remote sensing data, Geographical
Information System (GIS), Automatic Weather Stations (AWS), and internet of
things (IoTs) can be used to promote the implementation of IPM. New generation
of GPS, sensors-fitted farm equipment, e-tablets, and mobile applications (Plantix)
could be used for future pests and diseases identification and monitoring [47]. Since
implementation of IPM programs depends largely on information, it is anticipated
that a giant step being taken in areas such as principles of insect sampling, computer
programming and mathematics, understanding of pests biological and ecological
aspects, and simulation techniques and modeling [11]. Additionally, meteorological
and geostatistical computer models can revolutionize forecasting and monitoring of
insect pests, which, eventually improve decision-making for IPM. Novel tactics such
as silencing of pest gene or RNA interference (RNAi) and endosymbionts hosted by
insect pests could be used as potential new tools for future management of insect
pests. Continuous training and education of farmers represent the cornerstone for
establishment of solid and effective IPM program in agroecosystems.

14. Conclusions

Due to its importance, the European Union has adopted IPM as a policy for
management of insects and other pests. Manipulating reproduction of insect pests
with pheromones, irradiations, Wolbachia, and pathogens will provide a variety of
innovative tactical methods for IPM. Transgenic plants resistant to insect pest are
also important tactical methods for future implementation of IPM. The informa-
tion and communication technology (ICT) and nonprint media such as projectors,
tablets, laptops, and mobile cell phones are expected to play a vital role in dissemi-
nating IPM knowledge among illiterate farmers, in their languages, in developing
countries. In this respect, Julia and Robert [48] started a university-based scientific

15
Pests Control and Acarology

program called scientific animation without borders (SAWBO) to deliver IPM

strategies in the tropics. The SAWBO App helps trainers to use IPM-animated
videos, in different local languages, to educate farmers efficiently. The advancement
in semiochemical-based tactics could provide great support for area-wide IPM
(AW-IPM), which will gain importance in the coming years due to the increasing
numbers of invasive insect pest species.

Author details

Hamadttu Abdel Farag El-Shafie

Date Palm Research Center of Excellence, King Faisal University,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

*Address all correspondence to: elshafie62@[Link]

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link]
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

16
Integrated Insect Pest Management
DOI: [Link]

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Chapter 2

Biological Control of Insect Pest

Talha Nazir, Sehroon Khan and Dewen Qiu

Abstract

Among all the crops, the total loss due to the pests varied for each crop likely for
wheat 50%, cotton 80%, maize 31%, rice 37%, potatoes 40%, and soybean 26%.
Environmental stewardship and food security are the most important factors that
involved in agriculture. In many cases by the misuse of insecticide led to population
resurgence, pesticide residues, and pest resistance. The microorganisms like virus, fun-
gus, protozoan or bacterium are the active ingredient in this type of pesticides. Safety
of food alludes to the conditions and practices that save the quality of food to anticipate
tainting and food borne sicknesses. Natural enemies and botanicals play a vital role
to control pests with different mechanisms. Microbial, for example, microscopic
organisms, growths, and infections are the major biopesticides being concentrated
generally to create contrasting options to chemicals. The number and development
rate of biopesticides demonstrate an expanding promoting pattern in recent decades.
Biopesticides are host particular and biodegradable bringing about slightest persis-
tency of leftover poisonous quality. Biopesticides make key commitments to IPM and
can enormously lessen ordinary pesticides. Nowadays, the globe is working on protein-
based biopesticide, and it is very effective method to control the insect pest.

Keywords: pests, biopesticide, food security, microorganism, natural enemies,

protein

1. Introduction

1.1 Losses due to pests

Among all the crops, the total loss due to the pests varied for each crop likely for
wheat 50%, cotton 80%, maize 31%, rice 37%, potatoes 40%, and soybean 26%.
Weeds are the major problem in production, and its effects are almost 34% losses.
Pathogens and animal pests are also problem in production, but its loss is less as com-
pared to pests, loss due to pathogens is 16% and loss due to animal pests is 18% [1].

1.2 Use of pesticides

Agricultural pests like weeds, insects, pests, and plant pathogen are managed
by using pesticide-insecticide. To control the pests, the cost of machinery, fuel, and
labor is reduced [2–4]. The advantages of pesticides are production cost is lower,
yield is high, and farmer’s revenues become high [5]. For crop production, the
pesticides are used worldwide and increased about 20 times from 1960 to 2000 [1],
in 2002, the usage of pesticide becomes high and it was 1.0 billion tons, and in 2007,
it reached to 1.7 billion tons. China is one of the major producer and also the most
intensive insecticide-pesticide user in production of crops in the world [6, 7].

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Pests Control and Acarology

In China, the pesticide producers are more than 2800. There are more than 20 large
industries which produce the pesticides with a capacity of 5000–10,000 tons per
year. Registered active ingredients are more than 600, and up to 2005, the total
products (or formulations) were 22,000. Last year, the total amount for production
of pesticide was more than 1 million ton. In the sense of active ingredient, 0.28 mil-
lion tons and almost 1.4 million tons of formulated products are used and every year
20 million hectares. Nearly 30–40% yield loss could be evaded. There are more than
400 million farmers and 200,000 distributions [8].

1.3 Safety of food in field and on agricultural practice

Pesticides are used to increase the crop production in agricultural farms. But the
pesticide also has some sewer effects on human health even death because it contains
poison. These residues are more effective on children as compared to adults. Different
agricultural practices are used to keep the pest population below the economic
threshold level. The use of pesticide application is the most adoptable technique used
by farmers for the production of agricultural products. But these chemical pesticides
caused many serious problems. Due to the indiscriminate use of pesticides for the bet-
ter production of agricultural products, food residues remain in these products, which
cause health problems in human after consumption of these products [9].

2. Threats of pesticides

2.1 Effect on humans and environment

Asthma, learning disabilities, diabetes, birth defects, autism, reproductive dys-

function, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and many types of cancer are the most
common diseases that affect the health of human in twenty-first century. The chronic
diseases and death rate are about 1 million/year people due to the pesticides because
they contain poison [10]. The residues of pesticide remain in or on the food after they
applied on crops [11]. In many countries, it were seen that the levels of these residues in
foods are often stipulated by regulatory bodies. Now, people are going to aware about
the residues that occur in the edible food. Several pesticide residues especially exhibit
bioaccumulation and derivatives of chlorinated pesticides which could develop harm-
ful effect in human and animal body, also in environment [12]. Pesticides-insecticides
can contaminate turf, soil, water, and other vegetation. For reducing or finishing the
insects-pests or weeds, we use pesticides-insecticides but it will also be harmful for
the other organism like beneficial insects, birds, and also nontarget crop or plants.
Pesticides-insecticides contain acute toxic, but herbicides also pose risks to other plants
or nontarget organisms [13]. One of the environmental science books is Silent Spring
and the author of this book is Rachel Carson, which was published in 1962. In the
book, the harmful effects on the environment, predominantly on birds of excessive use
of pesticides, Rachel Carson accused the chemical industry for scattering half-truth
and public officials of accepting industry claims without any question [14].

3. Types of insecticides

3.1 Transfer processes

Adsorption is the process in which insecticide fix (bind) with soil particle.
According to the law, different charges can attract each other, this can be done

22
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DOI: [Link]

because insecticides have positive charge and soil particles have negative charge, and
moisture helps in absorption. Due to insistence of some insecticides, the insecticides
keep on in the field soil for a long time and can be absorbed by plants grown in the
field. Leaching is the process in which insecticide can move through soil instead
of over the surface. An insecticide is dissolved with the irrigation water and then
applied to the field plant. So, solubility is the mail factor. Volatilization is the process
in which solid or liquid changes into gas. When volatilized, the insecticide can move
away from treated area by the help of air. With the help of vapor pressure, we can
determine that the insecticide will volatize or not. If the vapor pressure is high in the
air then insecticide will be volatile. Spray drift is the process in which the droplets of
spray move away from the application site during application. Runoff is the process
in which the insecticide can move with water in the sloping surface. Insecticide may
move as it is mixed with water or fasten to the soil particles of destroying soil. It relies
on the slope of area; moisture content, rely and texture of soil [15].

4. Degradation or breakdown processes

It is the process in which the insecticide can break down with the help of light,
microbes, and chemical reactions. This process may be done in hours or may take
days or years; the breaking down of insecticide depends upon the chemical charac-
teristics of the insecticide and environmental factors.
Microbial breakdown is the process in which the insecticide can break down
with the help of microorganism’s likely bacteria and fungi. When favorable
conditions are available like warm temperature, appropriate soil moisture and
oxygen, and favorable pH, the microbial breakdown increases. Chemical break-
down is the process in which the insecticide can break down with the help of
chemical reactions in the soil. The type and also the rate of chemical reactions
that happen are influenced by pH levels, soil temperature, and moisture and
fixing of insecticide-pesticide to soil. Photodegradation is the process in which
the insecticide can break down with the help of sunlight. Almost all the insecti-
cides are break down in sunlight to some level. The breaking down of insecticide
depends upon some factors like properties of the insecticide, intensity of light,
and intensity of light [15].

5. Biopesticides: an alternate to traditional chemical pesticides

Environmental stewardship and food security are the most important factors
that involved in agriculture. In many cases by the misuse of insecticide led to popu-
lation resurgence, pesticide residues, and pest resistance. By using less opportuni-
ties once a legend idea, biopesticides are widely available, and this idea is working
very rapidly. The biopesticide is an alternate way to control pests, and this method
is environmentally friendly as well as effective [16].

6. Role of biopesticides in China

In 2008, the entire 97 varieties of biopesticides existed in China and cover the
market with biopesticide with 6 billion yuan and it is the 10% of total sale of pesti-
cide. At present, in China, some problems occur in commercializing biopesticides.
The agricultural production is low that cannot fulfill the demand of farmers. The
production technology of biopesticide is not good enough; less ability of innovation

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Pests Control and Acarology

and concentration of industry are also low. They just encouraged the use of
biopesticides in some varieties such as fruits, leafy vegetables, and melons. Chinese
herbs and tea are also encouraged but on a small scale. The Chinese Government
must implement hard policies of agricultural environmental and solid measure to
promote biopesticide against pest in the production of agriculture [17].

7. Major classes of biopesticides

In biopesticide, there are certain of pesticide derived from natural materials

as bacteria, certain minerals, animals, and plants. There are three types of major
classes of biopesticides [18].

7.1 Biochemical pesticides

These are naturally occurring substances that control pests by nontoxic mecha-
nisms. The conventional pesticides kill or disable the pest by contrast. Biochemical
pesticides have some substance that interferes in mating, like sex pheromones, also
different fragrance of plant extract attracts the pests to trap. Because it is some-
times difficult to determine whether a substance meets the criteria for classifica-
tion as a biochemical pesticide, EPA has established a special committee to make
such decisions [18].

7.2 Microbial pesticides

The microorganisms like virus, fungus, protozoan, or bacterium are the active
ingredient in this type of pesticides. Each microorganism have specific active
ingredient to control the specific pests, but microbial pesticides can control or kill
many kinds of pests which damage the crop production. One fungus can control the
weeds and other control or kill the insects-pests [18].

7.3 Plant-incorporated-protectants (PIPs)

These are pesticide substances produced by plants from genetic material which
are inserted in plant. Scientists take the gene for BT pesticide protein and insert into
plant’s own genetic material. After inserting the gene of Bt bacterium in the plant,
the plant prepared the substance that can destroy or kill the pest. The plant’s genetic
material and protein, but not plant itself, regulated by EPA [18]. An insect-toxic
protein, Bb70p, was purified from Beauveria bassiana 70 using ammonium sulfate
precipitation, ion exchange chromatography, and gel filtration. The protein caused
high mortality by intra-hemocoelic injection into Galleria mellonella. Thus, Bb70p
appears to be an insect toxin protein, demonstrating novelty. Identification of
this insect-toxic protein presents potential to enhance the virulence of B. bassiana
through genetic manipulation [19].

8. Biopesticide characteristics

Biopesticides have some characteristics:

1. Target range of biopesticides is narrow and used for specific problem.

2. Biopesticides work slowly.

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3. Biopesticides suppress the pest population rather than eliminate.

4. Application time of biopesticides is somewhat critical.

5. There is limited field persistence and shelf life.

6. Biopesticides often used as amount of IPM programs.

7. They are much more suitable for human as well as for environment than
conventional pesticides.

8. No residue problems commonly present by biopesticide.

9. Biopesticide application on food safety

Food safety requires wide application range of biopesticides which includes:

If one organism is feed on other organism, this is called its natural enemy. The
beneficial insects are those insects that feed on pests. In order arthropods, for exam-
ple, mites and spiders are beneficial [20]. Microbial pesticide exists naturally or by
genetically changed fungi, protozoans, bacteria, algae, or fungi. This can be used as
an alternate method to chemical insecticide, this is very effective. Biological toxin
material is derived from microorganism, for example, fungus or bacterium, this is
called microbial toxin. These types of microorganism may cause death or rupture
the gut of the pest because these entomopathogens are highly toxic. Studies proved
that pathogen develops insecticidal toxin that are very much important in patho-
genesis [21]. Antibiotics are the substance that stops the growth or kills microorgan-
ism, including both fungi and bacteria. In “bactericidal”, the antibiotics kill the
bacteria, whereas in “bacteriostatic”, the antibiotics stop the growth bacteria. It is
the success of biotechnology that develops the transgenic crops which are resistance
against the major pests and also commercialize the transgenic crops. In first genera-
tion, the products include plants with just single insecticidal Bt genes, which shows
resistance against the major pests of cotton and corn [22]. In the search for alterna-
tive solutions to crop protection problems, the interest in plants and their chemo-
biodiversity as a source of bioactive substances has increased. Plants are capable of
synthesizing an overwhelming variety of small organic molecules called secondary
metabolites, usually with very complex and unique carbon skeleton structures [23].
For many years for the protection of crops, these substances are used for the benefit
of mankind [24]. Plants release some chemicals in environment and when they
are used as smother crops, green manures, intercrop, cover crop or mulch, or in
rotational sequences grown than it can invade insect-pests and pathogenic diseases
and shows the progress in the yield of crops [25]. Botanicals include crude or semi
refined extracts and isolated or purified compounds from various plant species and
commercial products [23].

10. Microbial pesticides

Entomopathogenic fungi are considered as essential natural regulators in

population of different insects. These fungi have potential as mycoinsecticide
agents alongside different agricultural insect pests. The mode of actions of these
fungi mainly cause infection in body of their host through cuticle penetration,
acquisition entrance to the host hemolymph, production of toxins, and grow

25
Pests Control and Acarology

by consuming nutrients which are existing in the hemocoel to avoid immune

responses in insects [26]. A total of 1600 different types of viruses are involved
in the infection of 1100 different species of insects and mites. Baculovirus is con-
sidered as a distinct group of viruses. About 100 species of insects are susceptible
to this group of viruses. The main feature of this virus group is host specification
[27]. Bacterial biopesticides are considered as the most common and inexpensive
method of microbial pesticides. Different species of butterflies and moths as
well as species of flies, beetles, and mosquitoes are generally controlled by these
biopesticides. Bacteria which are used as bacterial pathogens to manage insect
pest populations are mainly spore-forming and rod-shaped bacteria in the genus
Bacillus [28]. The EPNsn introduces symbiotic, pathogenic bacteria of the genera
Xenorhabdus (in the Steinernematidae) or Photorhabdus (Heterorhabditidae) into
the hemocoel of their hosts following penetration. Subsequent multiplication
of the bacteria leads to host death, which can occur within as little as 48 hours
of infection. Nematodes infected insects usually have abnormal behavior than
uninfected individuals. The nematode can kill its host without its associated
bacterium but is unable to reproduce without it. They have also been used with
commercial success against citrus root weevil, against turf pests and on mush-
room crops (Figure 1) [29].

Figure 1.
Microbial biopesticide product worldwide active ingredient: microorganism (bacteria, fungi, virus, nematodes,
etc.) (Source: Division of Agricultural Chemicals, 2011).

11. Botanicals

An extensive variety of secondary metabolites were produced by plants that

prevent herbivores from feeding on them. These chemicals comprise phenolic
compounds (e.g., tannins), glucosinolates (e.g., mustard oil), glucosinolates (e.g.,
mustard oil), and terpenoids (volatile oils, e.g., limonene). As a plant protection
products about 50 different botanical active substances are registered in USA,
nevertheless just 11 are registered in the EU. Pesticides are derived from plants
and generally act in two ways: that is, stomach poison and contact poison. There

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are about 250,000 plant species that were evaluated from which 2121 are used
in the management of pest, 1005 are demonstrated insecticidal activity, 384 are
antifeedants, 297 are repellents, 27 are attractants, and 31 have growth inhibiting
properties [30].

11.1 Characteristics of major traditional botanicals

There are some traditional botanical insecticides with their source, mode of
action, toxicity, and uses [31] (Table 1).

Botanical insecticide Source plant (s) Mode of Toxicity Uses

action

Pyrethrins Flowers of Interferes Mammalian oral On humans

pyrethrum with Na LD50 > 1000, and pests to
daisy, Tanacetum and K ion some allergic control lice,
(Chrysanthemum) movement in reactions can fleas, ticks.
cinerariaefolium nerve axons occur Rapidly
breaks down

Rotenone Roots of Derris, Disrupts Oral In orchards

Lonchocarpus, other energy LD50 = 25–3000 and gardens
tropical legumes metabolism in Dermal > 1000 against
mitochondria several
insects
mainly
beetles.
Persists
effectively
for 4–5 days
or more.
Use as a fish
poison

Sabadilla Seeds of tropical Interferes Oral LD50 near In fruits and

European Veratrum with K 4000 vegetables
album and lily and Na ion against
Schoenocaulon movement in bugs and
officinale nerve axons. citrus thrips.
Irritates Rapidly
mucous breaks down
membranes
and skin,
potent inducer
of sneezing

Ryania Wood stems of Activate Ca++ Oral LD50 near In fruit

Ryania speciosa ion release 1000 crops and
channels Dermal near fields against
and causes 4000 thrips and
paralysis in caterpillars.
muscles of Frequently
insects and combine
vertebrates with
pyrethrins
and
rotenone in
commercial
mixtures
for use of
garden

27
Pests Control and Acarology

Botanical insecticide Source plant (s) Mode of Toxicity Uses

action

Nicotine Tobacco, Ni otiana Mimics Oral Mostly in

sp., Duboisia, acetylcholine LD50 = 3–188 greenhouses
Anabasis, Asclepias, and Dermal near 50 and gardens.
Equisetum, overstimulate Very toxic to Nicotine
Lycopodium receptor humans fumigations
cells to cause target
convulsions aphids,
and paralysis thrips and
mites
Neem Seeds, leaves, bark Biochemical Oral Medicinally
of chinaberry (Melia nature of LD50 > 13,000 use in
azedarach) and neem feeding humans. On
(Azadirachta indica) deterrence, landscape
repellence, plants and
growth many crops
regulation mainly
effects are not against
well described secondary
pests and
soft bodied.
Very short
persistence
on treated
plants
Limonene/Linalool Citrus oils Causes Limonene oral Mostly
spontaneous LD50 > 5000 in pet
stimulation Dermal > 3500 shampoos,
of sensory dip and
nerves, sprays to
biochemical kill ticks
mode of and fleas.
action Very short
persistence
on treated
plants

Table 1.
Features of foremost traditional botanicals [31].

12. Natural enemies

If one organism is feed on other organism, this is called its natural enemy. The
beneficial insects are those insects, which are feed on pests. In order arthropods,
for example, mites and spiders are beneficial. Beneficial arthropods are of different
types, parasitoids and predators. Predators like spiders and ladybug; they attach on
many kinds of insects and will eat many preys in their life cycle. Parasitoids are flies
or wasps that lay eggs inside or on the body of other arthropods, also called parasite.
When the egg hatches inside or on the body of other arthropods, the immature
parasitoid comes out and feeds on the victim, this is called host, finally killing it.
Developing parasitoid, in his life cycle kills only one host. Diseases also affect the
insects. Entomopathogens or insect diseases are microorganisms that attack insects
and contain nematodes, viruses, fungi, and bacteria. There is some exception that
warm-blooded animals cannot affect by the disease attacked by arthropods. To
control weeds, sometime plant disease agents and insects are used [20].

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There are few natural enemies that are very important from many beneficial
insects.
Lacewings found the colonies of aphid to consume just like lady beetles. They
feed on scales, mites, mealy bugs, insect eggs, and also on aphids. Stink bugs are
called very severe pests and these bugs are useful predators because the eating
behavior vary among different species. Searching behavior of lady beetles is frantic;
they always bite quickly to eat that helps to understand lady beetles. They feed on
many small insects, and no matter that prey is on which stage the aim is just killed.
They mostly eat aphid due to his small size but many lady beetles also eat beetle
grubs, small caterpillars, whiteflies, mealybugs, scales, mites, and all types of insect
egg. From some mites, the spider mites are serious pest of plants but some are
beneficial. From all the beneficial mites, the phytoseiid mites are mainly important,
the reason is that it is the predator’s plant feeding mites and also small organism like
thrips or eggs of insect [20].

13. Antibiotics of agricultural

Antibiotics are the active biomolecules obtained from different microorganisms

(bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes). Few antibiotics are derived from plant origin
also. Antibiotics kill the pathogens, disease causing harmful microorganisms by
interfering with their molecular process like transcription translation, etc., or also
by inhibiting the process which are very essential for the survival of pathogens
like cell wall synthesis, etc. Antibiotics are further categorized into narrow range
and broad spectrum antibiotics. Antibiotics are given orally as well as injected
intravenous.
Different antibiotics are used in agriculture. Names of these antibiotics are as
follows:

• Validamycin

• Avermectin

• Polyoxin

• Zhongshengmycin

• Wuyimycin

• Agricultural antibiotic 120

14. Insect sex pheromone

The sex pheromones are released by female to attract the male for mating, the
female do this with for sexual reproduction. Sex pheromones are for breeding and
for attraction of opposite sex and transferring information on their species, sex,
age, and genotype after released by male. Volatile pheromones are called as defen-
sive pheromones or sex pheromones, and they have a particular smell and focused
on the sensitivity of alarm [32].

29
Pests Control and Acarology

14.1 Application of insect sex pheromone

Pheromones are used in the following manners in pest management practical

• Pheromones are used for detecting by surveying and monitoring

• By using pheromones, it is easy to know the resistance of insecticide

• Pheromones are used to attract the pests to that area which is treated with poison
or insecticide

• Population suppression by mass trapping

• Pheromones are also used to attract the pest to sterile them

15. Difference between chemical and biological pesticide

Chemical pesticide Biological pesticide

Nontarget species are also harmed due to chemical These do not harm nontarget species
pesticides

These cause pollution, sometime serious They do not pollute the environment

Harmful pesticide residues may often remain in These have no harmful residues remaining in food,
food, fodder, and fibers fodder, and fibers

These are relatively costlier These are relatively cheaper

Insects may become resistant to pesticides, e.g., Insects are expected not to develop resistance to
Hothis has become resistant to most insecticides biopesticides

They are nonspecific to target, so accurate Since they are highly specific, so correct
identification of the pest is not necessary identification of the pest is essential

High specificity often not required to make the use High specificity may often make the use of two or
of pesticides more biopesticides necessary

Performance may be variable due to the influence of

biotic and abiotic factors of the environment

16. Role of biopesticides in organic agriculture

Organic farming is a system used to produce agricultural products like food

and fiber. The main aim of organic farming is that to develop biological diversity
in the field to disturb the habitat for the organisms of pests, and the purposeful
maintenance and replenishment of soil fertility. Biopesticides are used in organic
agriculture for minimizing the pest population. To control harmful organisms
or pests, different parts of plants are used like chili and garlic due to their strong
smell against insects. Against mosquito sweet, basil is used as a repellent and so on.
Biopesticides have bright future in the case of organic agriculture [33].

17. Future of biological control

In an environment, natural enemies are responsible for the regulation of

98% pest. From these 98%, only 5% pests have been controlled by the use of

30
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Figure 2.
World biopesticide market, fruit and vegetable crop represent 80% of usage (Source: Piper Jaffray Agricultural
Note, August 2013).

entomopathogenic fungus. Reduction of insecticide use and exploitation of bio-

control agent can help in the population regulation of different pest and biocontrol
agents. The importation of new predators and parasitoids in an environment is
also a good source of biological control. The use of some new trends like strains,
biotypes, and hybrids of parasites, fungal biopesticide, and use of different viruses
also need attentions to be explored properly and can be used for the management of
pests. The use of biocontrol agent has numerous advantages, but it is important to
modify the other methods of control like the use of pesticides. The pesticides must
not be very toxic to biocontrol agents, for example, endosulfan is less harmful to
many natural enemies. Biocontrol helps in upholding ‘Balance of Nature’ as it is the
phase of natural control [34].
Biopesticide, from a long time attracting the world consideration as safe and
sound plan than chemical control of pest with less hazard to environment and the
human. The collaboration between private and public sectors is compulsory to assist
the growth, manufacturing, and sale of this environmentally friendly alternative.
With research, new substances will be formulated and the delivery will also help
in commercialization and usage of biopesticide. In developing countries, one of
the most important factors is the availability and quality of the given product must
be in low price. New products could help as promising choice against pest; further
more research in field is necessary to confirm the efficacy on target pest in many
cropping systems [35] (Figure 2).

18. Conclusion

Biocontrol is environmentally friendly and active means of decreasing or

mitigating pests and pest effects through the use of natural enemies. The goal of
biocontrol is to promote the technology and science. Biological control is a technique
of controlling pests, that is, mites, insects, weeds, and plant diseases by using other
microorganisms.
Biopesticide is used for the modification of development of insect and behavior
exerts unique approach for management of insect population. The application of
biopesticide is based on the principle that is to provide safety to the human and
environment. Wide research is going on, and it is required much more in future to

31
Pests Control and Acarology

achieve the improvement. The future of biopesticide would fully depend on adop-
tion of application of biopesticide. Versatile use of biopesticide must meet the aims.
They must able to control/suppress/kill the harmful insects pests and also prevent
them, relatively in proper manner to conventional methods. Researchers, produc-
ers, and farmers should widely explore the use and find the safe environment and
also maximum production of crops.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development
Program of China (2017YFD0200900).

Conflict of interest

Authors have declared no conflict of interest.

Author details

Talha Nazir1, Sehroon Khan2 and Dewen Qiu1*

1 Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management in Crops, Institute of Plant

Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, P.R. China

2 Key Laboratories of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of

Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, P.R. China

*Address all correspondence to: qiudewen@[Link]

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link]
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

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Biological Control of Insect Pest
DOI: [Link]

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 Section 2

Pest Management in Cereals

35
Chapter 3

Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a

New Tool for Rodent Pest
Management in Irrigated Rice in
Africa
Loth S. Mulungu, Bernard M. Mchukya and
Laurent L. Mnyone

Abstract

Rodent infestation poses a serious threat to smallholder farmers in both developed

and developing countries where a large proportion of potential crop yield is lost. In
Tanzania, the average annual yield loss of rice is estimated to be around 5–12%.
Management of rodent pests in Africa relies mostly on the use of rodenticides which,
however, are often applied only when damage has already occurred rather than
routinely. Rodenticides used in this way are rarely economically and ecologically
sustainable for managing rodents in irrigated rice. A “community-based Trap-
Barrier-System (cTBS)” provides an alternative novel rodent control approach for
controlling rodents in rice fields. This is basically a system where rodents are trapped
in a rice field that is planted a short period earlier than the surrounding fields and
therefore attracting rodents from a much wider area than the field itself. The system
has proved very successful in irrigated rice fields in Tanzania, increasing rice yields in
the intervention fields by 40.91%. A single cTBS can confer protection in up to 16 ha
of irrigated rice field. Therefore, if scaled up and used widely, TBS has a great
potential for managing rodent pests and improving yield in irrigated rice fields.

Keywords: trap barrier system, rodent pest, irrigated rice, management,

community

1. Introduction

Rice (Oryza sativa) is among the three leading food crops of the world, with
maize (corn) and wheat being the other two. All the three crops provide around
42% of the world’s required caloric intake. In 2009, human consumption was
responsible for 78% of the total usage of produced rice [1]. More than 3.5 billion of
the world’s population, which translates to at least half of the people living in the
world, thinks of rice as their staple food.
According to IRRI [1], the top rice producing countries include India (43.2%),
China (30.35%), Indonesia (12.16%), Bangladesh (12.00%), Thailand (9.65%),
Vietnam (7.66%), Burma (6.8%), Philippines (4.5%), Cambodia (2.9%) and

37
Pests Control and Acarology

Pakistan (2.85%). These countries are also among the top rice consumers of the
world and combine to account for around 90% of the world’s rice consumption.
Rice is also one of the most important cereals grown and used as staple food in
many African countries [2]. It is the second most important crop in Africa after
maize [3]. Rice is produced under typical monoculture systems [4] that can be
subdivided into three agro-ecosystems: rainfed lowland (74%), rainfed upland
(20%) and irrigated lowland (6%), and the average production is 2.2 t/ha in Africa
and 3.4 t/ha worldwide [4]. Farmers in Africa grow mainly local and traditional
varieties, many of which have low yield potential. Most of the rice grown depends
on rainfall and many irrigation schemes. However, the yield and performance of
wet land rice planted in different countries still exhibit wide variations due to the
varying climate, land and soil, water supply, farming practices, socio-economic
conditions and other biological agents such as rodents [5].

1.1 Impact of rodents to rice crop

Rat damage to ripening rice crops in Asia, Africa and Latin America can be an
extremely serious agricultural problem, although economic losses are often difficult
to estimate because of complex patterns of growth and recovery of plants related to
the developmental stage when damage occurs [5, 6]. Rats can completely consume
fields of growing rice and sometimes prevent planting where crops could otherwise
be grown [7]. Rodent outbreaks in rice cropping areas have been reported to cause
severe crop damage and food shortages [8] due to effects from sowing to physio-
logical maturity of the crop.
In many countries, farmers consider rodents as an inevitable pest in their
fields [9]. Thus, they consider chronic rodent damage as something beyond their
control [10]. Rodent pest species cause numerous loses in different seasons and
locations [11]. However, in some locations, for example, in Philippines, farmers tend
to ignore rodent problems on standing rice when cut tillers are less than 5%. Signifi-
cant reduction in yield is observed at 25% cut tillers when compared with rice field
where rodent control is practiced [12]. The authors reported that farmers tend to seek
help or apply control measures when rat damage is higher than 5% or when damage
occurs at a critical stage of the crop, that is, at milky to soft dough stage.
Rodents, particularly rats, substantially cause damage to rice fields [12]. They eat
rice seeds and seedlings (Figure 1), gnaw tillers (Figure 2), damage plants and feed

Figure 1.
Rice seedling in nursery damaged by rodent pest (Courtesy by Loth S. Mulungu).

38
Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a New Tool for Rodent Pest Management in Irrigated Rice in Africa
DOI: [Link]

Figure 2.
Rice tillers damaged by rodent pest (Courtesy by Loth S. Mulungu).

on grains [13, 14]. In Tanzania, it has been addressed as the major threat in rice crop
production system. Farmers keep on controlling the pest to meet household food
demands. Elsewhere, on average across Asia, 5–10% of crop damage has been
attributed to rodents [9, 12].
Rodent damage to rice can be measured at several stages of crop growth. The
level or severity of damage is not uniform throughout growth stages of the crop;
instead, it tends to be more concentrated at some growth stages [15, 16]. At plant-
ing, for example, rodents may dig up and eat the planted rice seeds in nurseries or in
fields which are directly planted and consequently necessitate repeated late
replanting [17] and ultimately result in lower yield [11].
At vegetative stage while paddy is growing, rats cut rice tillers and use for
building their nests [18] and eat [19]. Damage can be severe during the dry season
and cuts are normally seen at the base [15, 16, 20]. At 45° which make different with
other pest [21]. At maturity, rodents attack both milky and mature grains [15, 16,
21]. In Asia, an estimated rodent damage of 5–10% was recorded prior to rice
harvest in 1999 [22]. In Tanzania, for example, rodents cause an estimated 10–12%
pre-harvest loss of rice annually [23, 24].
In Indonesia, rodent pests, primarily the rice field rat (Rattus argentiventer), are
the most important pre-harvest pests causing annual losses of rice crops by 17%
[25]. In Vietnam, My Phung and Brown [26] reported rodent damage on rice to
increase from 2.1 (in the first rice crop, winter–spring) to 3.8% in the second
(Summer–autumn) rice crop and reached 6.6% in the third (autumn–winter) rice
crop and caused yield loss of 15%. In Western Kenya, Taylor [27] reported rodent-
associated losses of maize, wheat and barley to be 20, 34–100 and 34%, respec-
tively, during rodent outbreak periods.
In West Java, monocultures of lowland irrigated rice, cumulative damage to rice
during the dry season was 54% at the primordial stage, 32% at the booting stage and
16% at the ripening stage. The rodents cause major impacts in agriculture in most
parts of the world by attacking crops at any growth stage. However, according to
Mulungu et al. [11], the impact of the rodent damage on final yield depends on the
country, season and crop type. For example, in Vietnam, rodent pests have been
serious since 1995 and considered top three agricultural problems in pre-harvest of
lowland irrigated rice [28]. In Indonesia, a loss of 10–20% for pre-harvest was
observed each year [28].

39
Pests Control and Acarology

2. Rodent management

2.1 Rodent management options

The history of rodent pest management in Tanzania goes back as early as 1912
when rodent (M. natalensis) outbreaks were reported in Rombo district in Kiliman-
jaro region [29]. Studies on population characteristics of this species showed irreg-
ular population explosions and most of the outbreaks occurred during the dry
season and last through the planting season of October–February [30].
In the past, most of the control measures used in then were localized [31]. With
technological advancement and population growth, several changes took place, and
at present, rodent control options can be grouped into two basic approaches: the
lethal and non-lethal [31]. Many different methods for controlling rodent pests have
been passed down through folklore or have been tested and proven effective in
particular situations [32, 33].

2.1.1 Non-lethal or preventive measures

The non-lethal method involves habitat manipulation or cultural practices,

exclusion/fencing and use of repellants. Environmental sanitation involving the
removal of fallow patches in crop fields is another non-lethal practice used in many
places [10]. Thick grass and bushes provide harborage and supplementary food
resources to rodents. In Tanzania, the environmental sanitation has been done by
farmers through slash and burning fields before sowing and harvesting as a way of
displacing rodent population [10]. Deep plowing and regular weeding have been
reported to suppress rodent population due to destruction of nests, removal of
alternative source of food and harborages [34]. However, sanitation is not signifi-
cantly effective as most farmers practice it on small plots that are interspersed with
patches of fallow and permanent grassland [34].
According to Masol et al. [35], the behavioral defense of pest against contact
especially for dietary poisoning influences their feeding and area repellent. For area
repellent, Voznessenskaya et al. [36] reported the exposure to predator odor to cause
disruption of the estrous cycle. Voznessenskaya et al. [37] reported reduced 26
reproductive outputs as the result of exposure to area repellent, specifically urine
products derived from meat diets and urine from rats housed in a crowded condition.
Mulungu et al. [33, 38] observed significant reduction in rodent activities following

Figure 3.
Effectiveness of cat urine extract of (a) female cat urine extract and (b) male cat urine extract. Source:
Mulungu et al. [33].

40
Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a New Tool for Rodent Pest Management in Irrigated Rice in Africa
DOI: [Link]

the application of cat urine. Female cat urine extract repelled significantly more
rodents as compared to male cat urine extract (Figure 3). The author further reported
that the repellent effect was observed from day 1 to 4, but not beyond (Figure 4).
In Tanzania, Ngowo et al. [32] evaluated two compounds, that is, thiram and
cinnamamide treated in maize seeds as contact repellent, and reported that these
two compounds excel over no treated maize seeds in both laboratory against M.
natalensis and fields against rodent pest species. Mdangi [39] reported that castor oil
(Ricinus communis) is therefore a promising rodent repellent for small scale maize
farmers (Figure 5), which protect maize seeds during sowing time.
Another non-lethal method is exclusion or fencing, which is the technology that
involves setting of barrier to prevent rodents from reaching the area of concern. It is
mostly practiced in smaller areas or in valuable crops like seedbeds and research

Figure 4.
Percentage rodent activities (SD) on tracking tiles in rooms treated with either female or male cat urine
extract. Source: Mulungu et al. [38].

Figure 5.
Mean proportion of damaged treated maize against number of damaged maize seeds in the control group
(black) and the treated group (red) at 150 g concentrations of castor oil. Source: Mdangi [39].

41
Pests Control and Acarology

plots [40]. Rodent proofing in houses whenever possible is a critical step in con-
trolling rodents. This could be through making it impossible for them to gain entry
to the house. It has been reported that fences which relied on the use of barriers that
exceeded the physical capability of the rodent pests were reliable [41].

2.1.2 Lethal approaches

The lethal rodent control methods are based on traditional, historical and con-
ventional approaches (e.g. trapping, chemical, toxicants and biological control)
[31, 42, 43]. The major methods of achieving satisfactory mortalities are physical
killing by trapping and rodenticides [44, 45]. However, killing with rodenticides
during rainfall and in irrigation schemes is compromised by water hence loss of
effectiveness and increased chances of poisoning non-targeted organisms [45, 46].
Rodenticides and traps are known to provide immediate effects to the problem
and are often considered to be the most practical, economical and effective methods
of combating rodents. The biological method always requires a period of time
before it becomes stable and provides substantial results [47].
The introduction of predators to control pests is an ecologically and conceptu-
ally appealing approach for reducing rodent pest populations. Introducing biolog-
ical agents to control rodents is a promising area for research, but many challenges
remain to find a candidate which is sufficiently pathogenic, has a high transmis-
sion rate and is target specific [48]. The role of natural predators in controlling
rodent pests is an interesting, but frequently misunderstood, concept that is rarely
effective in reducing pest populations to tolerable levels [49, 50]. The introduc-
tion of barn owls, for example, to Hawaii for rodent control in the 1960s was
ineffective. Some studies on barn owl in lowland Southern England revealed that
barn owls can adapt and establish to various living conditions in which rodent
population exist [51].
In Malaysia, the barn owl was reported to suppress rodents in rice fields
resulting in significant lower crop damage [52]. Successful introduction of exotic
vertebrate predators into new areas for pest control purposes has never been dem-
onstrated and, in some cases, has resulted in unanticipated, calamitous ecological
effects [53]. During the late 1800s, the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes javanicus)
was introduced into both the West Indies and Hawaii to control rat populations in
sugarcane fields [54]. Although this predator survives in some areas on a diet
composed mainly of rats [55, 56], the introductions failed to achieve the desired
result of reducing rat populations in sugarcane fields.
A variety of traps either commercially available or constructed in homes or
villages are used to control rodents; the centuries-long search for “a better mouse-
trap” has not ended [57, 58]. Trapping is widely used by specialists for surveillance
and monitoring of rodent infestations and is, perhaps, the most selective technique
to remove individual rodents from problem situations [10].
Although trapping is very labor intensive and requires skill to be used effectively,
its relatively low cost compared to other approaches often makes it a primary method
of choice for rodent control [59]. Trapping is also utilized where non-target animals
are an important concern or where use of toxicants or other more effective methods is
prohibited [59]. Trapping generally is not practical for managing large infestations or
removing entire populations over extensive areas [60]. However, traps can be used
effectively in limited areas or where substantial resources are available and more
efficient techniques cannot be used or developed [60]. Farmers, however, try to
minimize the crop damage and yield loss caused by rodents by adopting different
rodent control methods including poisons (rodenticides), burrow digging to kill
rodents, burying buckets full of water, use of live traps and kill traps [23].

42
Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a New Tool for Rodent Pest Management in Irrigated Rice in Africa
DOI: [Link]

Most subsistence farmers rely mostly on the use of rodenticides [61]. Both acute
and chronic rodenticides have been used extensively during rodent outbreaks [62].
These chemicals carry significant economic costs and, if used inappropriately, can
kill non-target animals (Figure 6) and have a negative effect on environment and
human health. It can occur when the dead bodies of poisoned rats are eaten by other
animals such as birds where the toxin enters the food chain causing death to a
variety of other animals including human [10]. Sometimes baiting using acute
rodenticides especially zinc phosphate is only used during rodent outbreak [10].
However, rodents are able to multiply fast and re-colonize the farms after rodent
control operation [63]. Rodenticides are generally an integral part of successful
rodent pest management and, in some tropical habitats, are the only practical
method available [64]. Unfortunately, farmers and extension personnel are often
confused or uninformed as to how a particular product may be effectively used. In
fact, it depends on (i) availability of the required rodenticides, farmers do not
access of rodenticides in time when needed, and even if available, they are distrib-
uted while damage has already occurred. In some areas, farmers attempt to buy
rodenticides from local vendors for control of rodent in their fields themselves.
However, most of them report on inefficient control of rodent by the rodenticides
they buy, and this is because some vendors sale fake rodenticides prepared from
radio dry cell battery and its flour looks like zinc phosphate. Also, improper use of
rodenticides and other chemicals for rodent control is a problem whereby farmers
lower doses of rodenticides to cover their cultivated areas using few amounts.
However, the dose supplied can result to resistance in some rodent species against
the commonly and most frequently used chemicals. In some areas, farmers have
improper use of chemicals recommended for human being; for example, indocid
capsules have been alternatively used by farmers for the control of rodents in fields.
(ii) Acceptability of bait formulations to rodents (often influenced by palatability
under field conditions). In rodent pest management programs, poison baiting is the
most widely used technique throughout the world [65, 66]. Although rodenticides
can be incorporated either in bait, dust or water formulations [67], they are gener-
ally included in food baits to achieve good control. Much effort has been made to
improve the palatability of rodent baits to ensure maximum ingestion by the target
rodent pests and thereby improved efficacy. (iii) The timing of bait application: in
some areas, farmers report on the rodent outbreak cases and request for control
assistance after they observe some cases of crop damage in their fields. This results

Figure 6.
Effect of acute poison to non-targeted animals. Source: Mdangi [39].

43
Pests Control and Acarology

into delayed process in control as it takes time for the information to reach the
responsible public rodent control centers. This is critical for alleviating damage
[51, 68]. Another factor that limits the use of rodenticides is poverty; many small-
scale farmers are poor, and therefore, in many cases, they cannot afford to buy
sufficient rodenticides for their farms [23].
In addition, the use of rodenticides and other control methods provides only a
short-term solution, and they are not effective in cases of high population as have
been reported in irrigated rice systems where rodent breed throughout the year
[68, 69]. In order, therefore, to minimize those problems, alternative measures
must be sought and one of them being the use of trap barrier system (TBS). It has
been reported that the application of TBS could increase yields by 10–25% [8] and is
cost-effective in most seasons.

2.2 Philosophy on TBS for rodent management

Trap barrier system is a new environmentally friendly, physical rodent control

method. It has been proved very successful in controlling rats in irrigated rice fields
in Southeastern Asia.

2.2.1 Construction of TBS

An area of 10 m by 10 m or 20 m by 20 m, which is equal to size of one trap

barrier, is constructed and measured by using tape measure, staked and marked with
a piece of trees dug 50 cm into the ground and stands for 1.5 m above the ground.
String and wire is used to maintain an erect barrier. Thereafter, polythene sheet with
size of 45 m length and 1 m width is rolled around the staked pegs/piece of trees
followed by covering the sheet with mud below the ground (about 5–10 cm), so that
no rodent can penetrate the sheet. Therefore, a significant aspect of the trap barrier
system (TBS) is that the crop protection occurs in ecologically acceptable manner, as
the entire crop is wrapped in polyethylene sheets and held together with wooden
bamboos, at sufficient height of about (90–95 cm) from above ground.
Live-multiple-capture cage traps (240  150  150 mm) are placed every 2.5 m
(n = 8 per TBS) from each angle. The two multiple capture traps are installed along
each side inside the sheet held tightly against the fence, facing the hole made on the
polythene sheet, making a total of eight holes and eight traps per trap barrier. Trap
barrier is repaired for any destruction if occurred (Figure 7).

2.2.2 Crop transplanting and animal trapping

The trap (lure crop) is transplanted inside the barrier immediately after trap
barrier has been constructed in each season. The seedlings in the surrounding TBS
are transplanted 3 weeks later (Figure 8). Moreover, every important agronomic
practice is done. Trapping in the TBS starts after construction the barrier whereby
two multi-capture traps. The multi-capture traps are cleared of rats and re-trap
every morning for entire crop growth period.

2.2.3 Potential of TBS in rodent management in Tanzania

[Link] Rodent pest species captured

Two small mammal species were captured, which included Mastomys natalensis,
which is a rodent pest species, and Crocidura spp., which is an insectivorous species.
Mastomys natalensis contributed more than 97% of the total small mammals

44
Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a New Tool for Rodent Pest Management in Irrigated Rice in Africa
DOI: [Link]

Figure 7.
A pictorial presentation of TBS structure. Source: Courtesy by Loth S. Mulungu.

Figure 8.
Constructed TBS with rice inside planted 3 weeks before planting in surrounding. Courtesy by Grant Singleton.

captured in the study area for both dry and wet seasons. This observation of high
abundance of M. natalensis is consistent with those reported by Vibe-petersen et al.
[70] and Sluydts et al. [71] in maize farms, Makundi et al. [72] and Massawe et al.
[73] in fallow fields and by Mulungu et al. [68] in irrigated rice fields. The presence
of M. natalensis in such high population abundances in this area is probably associ-
ated with availability of food, habitat and/or reproduction potential of the species.
According to Makundi et al. [74], the species is a pioneer in colonizing disturbed
habitats (e.g. by agriculture). Likewise, Odhiambo et al. [75] and Mulungu et al.
[76] reported that the species feeds in almost all types of food in the environment
but predominantly prefers seeds/grains. Leirs et al. [63] incriminated M. natalensis
to be an opportunistic rodent species and named it characteristically to conform
with r-selected strategy when conditions are favorable. Rodent populations usually
fluctuate from time to time [77].

[Link] Rodent population reduction

Studies have been conducted in Tanzania to assess the effectiveness of TBS on

reduction of rodent pest species population [78]. Results showed no significant
effect (F1, 18 = 1.30; p = 0.32) of the TBS on population abundance between dry and

45
Pests Control and Acarology

wet seasons if TBS has been used regardless the high population abundance of
rodent observed on dry season than wet season. During dry season, higher catch
(F9, 20 = 9.604, p ≤ 0.0001) was observed when the population is higher in October
(16.0 animals) (Table 1). It has been reported that the fluctuations can be acceler-
ated by factors like food availability and/or other environmental factors such as
water flooding or vegetation cover [79, 80]. High population was observed at
transplanting and booting stages in dry and wet seasons, respectively, although it is
not significant with other crop growth stages. This is contrary with previous obser-
vations by Mulungu et al. [68] who reported that high population was recorded
during the dry season at transplanting and vegetative crop growth stages.
The discrepancy of these two observations in the same area may be due to a
change of planting calendar. Mulungu et al. [68] reported that farmers start land
preparation and transplanting in July and January for dry and wet seasons, respec-
tively, whereas in the current study, planting and land preparation starts in July and
January for dry and wet seasons, respectively. Generally, in this study, the rodent
population decreases with an increase in crop growing stages.

[Link] Seasonal rodent population reduction

For the wet season, there was a significant interaction effect on monthly and M.
natalensis population abundance (F9, 20 = 9, p ≤ 0.0001) with fields type practice
applied. Highest number of rodent catch was observed in May (1.0 animal) than
other months (Table 2). Lowest trap catches were observed in the control in the
month of July (0 animals captured). The increase of crop damage corresponds with
the increase of rodent population abundance.
The dry season (October) had high population abundance and high crop damage
compared to wet season. This observation concurs with Meheretu et al. [81] in
wheat crop who reported that when wheat was at maturity stage, rodent abundance
was low. One could expect an increase of population as the crop grows due to
availability of shelter and cover. Both the wet and dry seasons are favorable for rat

Month*Management Mean population % Damage

Oct*Tbs 16.0  4.1a 27.2331  1.42a

Oct*Control 10.31  1.7a 29.7671  1.96a

Nov*Tbs 2.7  1.2b 20.2000  0.78ab

Nov*Control 2.31  1.2b 21.2672  2.11ab

Dec*Tbs 2.01  1.4b 10.3330  0.79bc

Sept*Control 1.71  1.0b 9.53  7.78bc

Sept*Tbs 1.00  0b 1.0000  0c

Dec*Control 0.00  0b 10.4334  4.88bc

Jan*Control 0.00  0b 3.7003  3.02c

Jan*Tbs 0.00  0b 3.0672  2.5c

DF 9 9

F 5.32 11.680

p 0.0001 <0.0001
Source: Mchukya [78].

Table 1.
Effect of interaction between months and population abundance on dry season.

46
Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a New Tool for Rodent Pest Management in Irrigated Rice in Africa
DOI: [Link]

Month*Management Mean population % Damage

May*Tbs 1.00  0.0a 1.000  0.0a

April*Control 0.67  0.54ab 2.033  1.66ab

June*Tbs 0.67  0.54ab 0.700  0.57ab

May*Control 0.67  0.54ab 4.233  1.94ab

April*Tbs 0.50  0.35ab 3.400  0.28ab

June*Control 0.33  0.27b 0.733  0.6b

March*Tbs 0.33  0.27b 0.000  0.0b

July*Control 0.00  0.0b 0.000  0.0b

July*Tbs 0.00  0.0b 0.000  0.0b

March*Control 0  0b 0.967  0.7b

DF 9 9

F 49.977 1.677

p <0.0001 0.161
Source: Mchukya [78].

Table 2.
Effect of interaction between months and population abundance on wet season.

reproduction and crop damage. The presence of food, water and shelter in the area
are factors that permit the survival of rat populations. In rice fields, the quantity
and quality of the available harborage usually vary considerably from place to place
and season to season. Sumangil [82] reported short-range seasonal movements
among R. argentiven.
Quick [83] reported that an increase in rice damage towards maturity was
associated with an increase in crop cover (i.e. rice tillers) and food (i.e. rice grain).
The same was observed by Mulungu et al. [68] who reported that rodent population
abundance increases with an increase of rice growth stages. Frequent rains and
irrigation, which flooded rat burrows, may have effectively kept rodent activities
low or forced some rodents to migrate to domestic environment as M. natalensis is
semi-domestic species. As observed in wheat fields [84], rat activity increased in
fields as the crops matured and the plots became dry.
The occurrence of rodent outbreaks in Tanzania is influenced by the rainfall
pattern [85]. Rodents breed during the long rains and usually starts one month after
the usual peak rainfall, lasting until dry season [85]. Neonates grow slowly and
normally do not mature before the next rainy period. Unless abundant rains appear
before March and April the following year, they will be at least 6 months old before
they begin to breed [85].
Fulk [86] reported similar influxes of rodents into rice fields in Pakistan. As the
rice ripened and water was drained from the plots, rodent numbers increased rapidly.
Despite high numbers of rodent individuals recorded at vegetative and booting,
rodent damage was lowest at maturity growth stages in both seasons. Average grain
yield on the wet season and dry season was not different (p > 0.05). Wet season had
relatively higher grain yield than the dry season. The lower yield observed during the
dry season is probably attributed to rodent damage, irregular irrigation, and/or
prolonged periods of water stress caused by insufficient water supply [87].
According to Raes et al. [88], rice cultivated in the dry season experiences much
of the moisture stress [89]. Other similar findings include that of Craufurd et al.
[90], who reported that water stress has negative impacts on yield and effects vary

47
Pests Control and Acarology

with phenological stages, which are generally more severe from the flowering stage
onwards. Yue et al. [91] reported that yield loss under drought stress could be
associated with an increase of spikelet sterility and a reduction in panicle filling rate
as well as grain weight. Damage at dry season resulted into lower yield losses
compared to wet season.
At early growth stage such as transplanting, yield loss was observed to be higher
compared to later growth stages in dry season and vegetative and booting stage at
wet season. As damage ascended from zero to 50% stem tiller cut, yield losses
followed the same trend. The results of this study also indicate that rice crop
damage through the cutting of tillers may have negligible impact on yield, particu-
larly if the damage occurs early in the growing season at the transplanting stage of
the crop.
It has been reported that percentage yield loss at these growth stages is roughly
approximate to the percentage of damage [92, 93], which is attributed by the fact
that at late stages the crop cannot produce more tillers to compensate for damage
since very little time is available for such compensatory growth. Compensation in
rice crop yield can be further observed through the significant interaction between
growth stage and damage level.
The significant interactive effects between growth stage and damage level sug-
gest that rice plant compensation has occurred. Similar findings were reported by
Fulk and Akhtar [94] who showed that rice grain yield may not be affected by loss
of tillers at their early growth stages as the numbers of productive tillers are deter-
mined at the late tillering stage. Buckle et al. [95] reported that compensation
capacity of rice damaged by rodents is higher at each growth stage than at maturity
of the crop. Aplin et al. [77] explained the term compensation of rice in terms of
tiller regrowth and panicle filling.
Cuong et al. [96, 97] observed that the yield loss might be high and probably
result in total yield loss when damage occurs at the reproductive phase as there
would not be sufficient time for compensation to occur. The difference in grain
yield in crop plants could be attributed to the effect of weather, pest pressure
(damage), and field management. Average number of panicles per plant in the wet
season was observed to be higher than that of the dry season. This perhaps may be
due to availability of moisture/flood condition in wet season, which limit rodent
movement within the field while others migrate to domestic environment. These
results agree well with those of Kim et al. [98] who reported that drought exposure
during the earlier stages of reproductive growth affects panicle formation nega-
tively. Also, rodent damage recorded in the dry season was higher than that of the
wet season especially plots with no TBS.

[Link] Radius covered by TBS in controlling rodent pests

Again, Mchukya [78] observed that distance measured (i.e., 0, 10, 20, 30, 50 m)
from the TBS differs significantly (F3, 38 = 4.61; p = 0.0076) and indicating that up
to 20 m, one structure of TBS manages rodent during dry season. However, at wet
season, no effects (F3, 38 = 0.94; p = 0.4293) on rodent abundance between distance
were tested. Across the season, there was significant difference between distance
(F3, 78 = 4.28; p = 0.0075) where TBS reduces population up to 20 m.
During the dry season, low population and damage were maintained at late
stages within a distance of ≤20 m and increased as the distance increased (≥ 20 m)
away from the lure crop. On other side of wet season, population and damage
were very low at early and late stages but high at vegetative and booting stages.
Low population abundance and damage were maintained within a distance of
≤30 m but increased as the distance increased (≥30 m) away from the lure crop.

48
Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a New Tool for Rodent Pest Management in Irrigated Rice in Africa
DOI: [Link]

Across the season, low population and damage were maintained within a
distance of 20 m (Table 3).
During the dry season, the effect of the TBS was much pronounced within 20 m
distance of protection from the trap crop by considering the damage which was
very high compared to wet season, although that low damage continue to reduce
much more up to 30 m with the aid lure crop within the trap barrier. In this study,
the distance covered by TBS was 0.5 acre, which is very small compared to singleton
[22], whose TBS was effective within 200 m covering a total area of 15 ha.
The bunds surrounding small plots owned by farmers were acting as home range
of rodents, which allow them for easiness of short movement in attacking rice that
resulted to a minimum of 20 and 30 m distance of protection from the center of the
trap crop in dry and wet seasons, respectively. Trap barrier system has proved very
successful in irrigated rice fields in Southeastern Asia to control rats, a cost-
beneficial and sustainable solution, and the yield of rice has increased with 10–25%.
It is basically a system where rodents are trapped in a rice field that is planted a
short period earlier than the surrounding fields and therefore attracting rodents
from a much wider area [22].

[Link] Yield loss

There was no significant difference between treatments within and across the
seasons, although the yield over time varied considerably between TBS and field
without TBS and seasons. Highest value was observed in plots with TBS than fields
without TBS plots in both seasons and across the season. However, there was
relatively lower yield in dry season than the wet season due to higher rodent
damage and water stress (Table 4).
Population abundance corresponds with the increase of crop damage. High
population abundance and crop damage were much observed on dry season than
wet season, although TBS saved 510 kg of harvested paddy. Assuming that 0.25 kg
of rice when cooked can be consumed by one person, this means that a total of 2040

Distance (m) Mean damage (%)

Dry season Wet season Across season

0 18.0b 5.0a 0.0667b

10 25.7b 9.9a 0.333ab

20 28.2ab 15.1a 0.5333ab

30 51.3a 25.3a 0.7333a

Source: Mchukya [78].

Table 3.
Crop damage (%) at different distances within and across the seasons.

Treatment Yield (t/ha)

Dry season Wet season Across season

Fields with TBS 3.83 5.69 4.76

Fields without TBS 3.323 4.33 3.83

Source: Mchukya [78].

Table 4.
The yield of rice (t/ha) obtained from plots with TBS and those without TBS within the seasons.

49
Pests Control and Acarology

people per meal in a given area or village could benefit from system. The cost-
benefit ratios for the dry and wet seasons, respectively, indicate the strong potential
of a TBS with trap crop for managing the rice field rat.

[Link] Economics on the use of trap barrier system

The benefits from all fields with TBS during wet and dry season were relatively
high compared with that of the fields without TBS. Fields with TBS had higher
undamaged tillers, which resulted in the increase of revenues that exceeded the cost
of the plant protection regime, although it was noticed that the cost of plant pro-
tection using TBS was higher than fields without TBS. The yield from TBS and fields
without TBS plots were 3.83 and 3.323 t/ha in the dry season (Table 5) and 5.69 and
4.33 t/ha in wet season (Table 6), respectively. Across the season (Table 7), the
fields with TBS had higher mean yield (4.76 t/ha) compared to fields without TBS
(3.83 t/ha). The benefit was obtained by taking the yield (t/ha) multiply by 900
Tsh/kg of harvested paddy. Therefore, the cost-benefit ratios for using a TBS were

Fields Yield Increased yield Value of Materials, labor, Net Cost-benefit

types (kg/ha) over control yield (Tsh) bait, rodenticides benefit ratio (CBR)
(NB)

With 3830 507 456,300 215,000 241,300 1:1.1

TBS

Without 3323
TBS
Source: Mchukya [78].

Table 5.
Evaluation of the cost and benefit of control rodent pests with trap barrier system in dry season.

Fields Yield Increased yield Value of Materials, labor, bait, NB CBR

types (kg/ha) over control yield (Tsh) rodenticides

With 5690 1360 1,224,000 160,000 1,064,000 1:6.7

TBS

Without 4330
TBS
Source: Mchukya [78].

Table 6.
Evaluation of the cost and benefit of control rodent pests with trap barrier system in wet season.

Fields Yield Increased yield Value of Materials, labor, bait, NB CBR

types (kg/ha) over control yield (Tsh) rodenticides

With 4760 934 840,600 187,500 653,100 1:3.5

TBS

Without 3826
TBS
Source: Mchukya [78].

Table 7.
Evaluation of the cost and benefit of control rodent pests with trap barrier system across the seasons.

50
Trap Barrier System (TBS) as a New Tool for Rodent Pest Management in Irrigated Rice in Africa
DOI: [Link]

1:1.1 for the dry season, 1:6.7 for the wet season and 1:3.5 across the season. This is in
contrast to the use of a TBS alone which, in Malaysia and the Philippines, requires
crop losses of >30% before there is a positive benefit-cost ratio [99]. There has been
only one report in Southeast Asia of high benefit-cost ratios for a TBS alone: ratios
of 19:l and 28:l in Malaysia in a region where 56% of rice farms had suffered yield
losses [100]. Murakami [101] also reported a TBS to be effective against R. qyntil-
water in paddies that had severe rat damage during the previous year.
The main factor providing the high benefit-cost ratio is the halo of protection
provided to crops outside the TBS. Therefore, the selection of the project with the
benefit-cost ratio or Profitability index (PI) method can also be done on the basis of
ranking. The highest rank will be given to the project with the highest PI, followed
by the others in the same order. According to Misuraca [102], the cost-benefit ratio
exceeding one might be termed as the project worth undertaking as it become
comparable to increasing returns to scale contributed by the project if a firm adopt
it. The higher the cost-benefit ratio results in the higher net return [20]. The effect
of a TBS plus trap crop on mean yield increased up to 20 m from the TBS and the
associated cost-benefit ratios in this study.

2.3 Conclusion

Trap barrier system indicated its strong potential in lowering population

abundance at a distance within 20 m away from the trap, which corresponding
with low damage resulted to high yield. It is therefore recommended the small-
scale farmers to use trap barrier system against pre-harvest rat losses to rice
probably during dry season due to high rat densities. This will help them to save
more, maximize their profit, and improve their living standard. Also, further
study is needed to test this new technology in other irrigation schemes and other
African countries and to determine the home range of rodent in order to provide
valuable comparative data basis.

Author details

Loth S. Mulungu1*, Bernard M. Mchukya2 and Laurent L. Mnyone1

1 Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania

2 Rodent Control Centre, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives,

Morogoro, Tanzania

*Address all correspondence to: lothmulungu@[Link]

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link]
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

51
Pests Control and Acarology

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Chapter 4

Stem Borers of Cereal Crops in

Africa and Their Management
Abou Togola, Ousmane Boukar, Manuele Tamo
and Siva Chamarthi

Abstract

The economic importance of the stem borer in Africa results in their severe
damage that affect directly cereal yield factors such as the density of fertile tillers
and the number of effective panicles. The objective of this paper is to describe and
discuss the management options of the main prevalent stem borer of cereal crops
in Africa. Host plant resistance, cultural practices, biological control and reasoning
chemical control are among the most encouraging options. Integrated pest manage-
ment combining several compatible methods was highlighted as the most sustain-
able control option. This paper will served as support for the current research on
cereal crops but also as relevant prospect document for entomologists and breeders
from across the world.

Keywords: IPM, environment friendly, yield loss, biocontrol, cultural practices

1. Introduction

Stem borers constitute the most widely distributed and injurious group of insect
pests of cereal crops. They are commonly known to be one of the limiting factors
of cereal production worldwide. They are present in field throughout the crop
growing stage from seedling to maturity. The stem borers found on cereal crops in
Africa are mainly lepidopterans and dipterans. Cereal crops such as rice, sorghum,
maize, sugarcane and pearl millet suffer from the attack of stem borers. The larval
stage constitutes the most damaging developmental stage of the pest. They are
concealed inside the stem where they feed on the internal cavity of the plant mak-
ing them very difficult to control. Stem borers cause severe damage on plant stems
particularly the destruction of the central leaves (dead-heart) and the drying of the
panicle (white head). Their attack leads to significant yield losses. According to [1],
the most serious pests of cereal crops in Africa include stem borers. The severity
of damage depends not only on the species and density of the pest but also on the
phenology stage of the crops. Yield losses of about 10 and 100% due to stem borer
have been recorded in rice fields [2].
To control these pests, various strategies have been practiced. These include cul-
tural practices, host plant resistance, habitat management, biocontrol and the use
of synthetic pesticides. Each management method has some advantages and limita-
tion regarding its impact on environment, human health and its economic costs and
sustainability. Nowadays, the integrated management, combining two or several of
these management methods appears to be the most effective and sustainable option.

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This chapter comprises two main sections. The first section gives an overview of the
main stem borers and their host range in Africa and the second section describes
the various management options used to control stem borers and discusses the
advantage and limitation of each method while exploring option of combining
multiple methods to sustainably mitigate the effect of the stem borer on stakeholder
farmers in Africa. This chapter will support the current research on the sustainable
management of stem borers attacking cereal crops and will contribute to increase
their productivity in Africa.

2. Overview of the main stem borers of cereal crops in Africa

Several stem borers species have been reported to cause severe damage on vari-
ous cereals crop in Africa.
The maize stalkborer, Bsseola fusca (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is reported
to be of economic importance for maize and sorghum [3] while maintaining its
population on some alternative hosts. The spotted stem borer, Chilo partellus
(Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is considered to be one of the devastating stem borer of
sorghum and maize [4, 5] and also makes severe damage on rice in some African
countries (Togola, unpublished data). The African striped rice borer, Chilo
zacconius Bleszynski (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is among the major rice stem borer
species occurring in the humid forest and savanna zones according to Akinsola
[6]. The host range comprises cultivated rice, wild rice, Oryza longistaminata,
Panicum sp., and Paspalum scrobiculatum but it has been found also on maize [7].
Other host plants include Pennisetum spp., Rottboellia cochinchinensis (Loureiro)
W.D. Clayton, Saccharum officinarum L and Sorghum arundinaceum (Desv.)
Stapf. [6, 8, 9]. The pink Stem Borer Sesamia calamistis (Noctuidae) is generally
less important than Busseola fusca and Chilo partellus as a pest of cereal crops in
Africa but may be locally abundant. It attacks sorghum, maize, rice and sugarcane
as main host. It can be found also on wheat and pearl [Link] secondary crop
host and at less extend on wild grass such as Pennisetum purpureum, Setaria sp.,
Rottboellia exaltata and Cyperus distans as alternative host [10, 11]. The millet stem
borer Coniesta ignefusalis Hampson (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is an important pest
of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) especially in West Africa [12]. The dam-
age caused by C. ignefusalis is estimated to 15 and 100% of crop losses annually,
depending on location and season [13]. The last generation enters diapause at
the beginning of the dry season and stay for 6 months the time the next grow-
ing season comes. The sugarcane stem borer Eldana saccharina (Pyralidae) is a
stem borer of cereal crops in Africa with particular economically importance on
sugarcane. In the past E. saccharina appeared to be of very little important pest in
Africa, except on sugarcane. But it has recently increased in importance on other
crops such as maize, and sorghum in several African countries [14]. Also it can
attack rice. Its hosts among wild grasses are Panicum maximum, Cyperus papyrus
[15], Sorghum halepense, S. verticilliflorum and Pennisetum purpureum. The white
rice borer Maliarpha separatella Ragonot (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is an important
stem-borer of rice in West Africa [16]. The larva bores into the stem from the
lowest internode where it feeds on the internal tissue preventing the nutrient
to rise up until the panicle. The damage caused by this stem borer is said to be
unique among rice stem borers because it rarely causes deadhearts or whiteheads
[7]. The symptoms of M. separatella damage are similar to that of the sheath rot
caused by a fungus pathogen Sarocladium oryzae. The stem of the infested plant
becomes weakened, the panicles incompletely exerted from the flag leaf and the
grains incompletely filled with brown coloration. M. separatella is more severe in

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low land, irrigated and floated rice. It also attacks the wild rices Oryza longista-
minata and Oryza punctata [17]. It was also reported on some wild grasses such
as Andropogon tectorum and Echinochloa holubii [18]. The rice yellow stem borer
Scirpophaga spp (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) are among the minor rice stem borers
in Africa. Several species of Scirpophaga exist but the most dominant in Africa is
S. melanoclista Meyrick [7]. The stalk-eyed fly Diopsis spp. (Diptera: Diopsidae)
is a serious pest of rice in Africa. The two main species commonly found in rice in
Africa are Diopsis thoracica Westwood and Diopsis apicalis Westwood [7]. Diopsid
can be found in all rice ecological zones but preferentially in humid and shady
lowland [19–21] and also in irrigated rice fields [7]. Damage from Diopsid larvae
is similar to the primary damage made by Lepidopteran larvae resulting to the
death of the central leaf of rice plant (deadheart). Feeding by the larvae signifi-
cantly reduces the tiller density, the effective panicles, the grains weight and the
total yield [7] and increases the number of immature panicles. The damage level
increases according to Diopsis density. In endemic area 60% of the tillers can be
infested [22]. Finally the African rice gall midge (AfRGM), Orseolia oryzivora
Harris and Gagné (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) is an indigenous dipteran borer of
rice that was first reported from southern Sudan in 1947 [23, 24]. The pest is now
spread in more than 20 African countries where severe yield losses have been
reported. The damage converted the shoot meristem into a gall. The infested
plant is no longer able to develop into a floral meristem and then the reproductive
potential of the plant is severely compromised [23]. Larval feeding causes severe
damage to rice during the vegetative stages (seedling to panicle initiation). Heavy
yield losses of 45–80% in farmers’ rice crops have been recorded in some fields
[25, 26].
A clear knowledge of these stem borer species and their host crop are of key
importance for a sustainable management action.

3. Management of the main stem borers of cereal crops in Africa

Because of the nature of the habitat of stem borers (internal shelter), their man-
agement requires some specific control measures and actions. Various strategies exist
for managing stem borers’ population and damage in cereals crops. These include
cultural practices, host plant resistance, biocontrol and use of synthetic pesticides.

3.1 Preventive cultural practices

Cultural practices are considered as classic pest control methods. This method
consist of manipulating the cropping systems in order (1) to avoid the meeting of
crop susceptible stage with pest highest density or (2) to improve the crop growing
condition or (3) to make the environment unfavorable for pest proliferation. The
cultural practices have the advantage to be easy to implement with less cost. They are
more convenient for smallholder farmers in developing countries [27]. Preventives
cultural practices comprise a wide range of agronomic practices. These tactics need
to be undertaken as first line defense measures to prevent high infestation of stem
borers in cereals fields. Among the most effectives cultural practices in controlling
stem borers there is cereals intercropping or strip cropping with non-host crops such
as cowpea, soybeans and groundnut. Also the choice of appropriate date for planting
cereals crops allows the crops to escape to critical period where the pest pressure is
high [28]. The sol fertilization and field hygiene are cultural practices that reinforce
the plant vigor and increase its defense system. [29, 30] demonstrated that zinc
fertilization and potassium fertilization significantly decrease stem borers population

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Pests Control and Acarology

in rice and increase paddy yield. Other practice such as destruction of crop residues
(burning, plowing or disking) appears to be an effective cultural tactic for limiting
the number of diapausing larva of stem borer. [31] demonstrated that plowing and
disking crop residues destroyed 24% of the stem borers’ population on sorghum and
19% of maize stem borers. Similarly, [32] reported that the destruction of sugarcane
residue after harvest significantly reduced the infestation of subsequent crops by
Eldana saccharina. Burning of crop residues was also reported to be effective against
Chilo spp. and Busseola fusca as well [15]. Burning or composting old stalks before
the onset of the rains is effective against B. fusca [13]. The management of the maize
stalkborer B. fusca includes intercropping maize with non-hosts crops like cassava
and cowpea or with a repellent plant such as silver leaf desmodium (Desmodium
uncinatum) [33]. Others cultural practices such as destruction of alternatives host
plants or ratoons, synchronized plantings, crop rotations, high cropping density, use
of trap crops, good irrigation and good fertilization are good cultural tactics against
the insect pests in general and stem borers in particular [27]. The use of trap crops or
intercropping upland NERICA rice and maize have also been suggested as an effective
method for controlling M. separatella in rice ecosystems in Nigeria [26]. Practices such
as irrigation, planting density and dates of planting were all found to be effective as
well important factors for consideration [17, 34]. According to [24], the management
of the African rice gall midge take into account early and synchronized planting as rice
fields planted early are less likely suffer serious damage than those planted late. Also
destruction of alternative host plants such as rice ratoons, volunteers and Oryza longis-
taminata as well as the use of moderate levels of fertilizer (e.g. 60 kg/ha) prevent the
build-up of AfRGM population. The same author highlighted the importance of plant
spacing as close spacing provides a suitable micro-environment for the survival of the
exposed life stages of AfRGM. Cleaning of the rice field especially the destruction of
the wild rice are good cultural practice for managing the African striped rice borer,
C. zacconius. The ‘push-pull’ method based on the intercropping of Desmodium with
millet was report to effectively act as a repellent that ‘pushes’ the millet stem borer
C. ignefusalis away from the millet [35]. The most useful advantage of the cultural
practices is that they are compatible to all pest control measures. They represent an
important component of the integrated pest management of the stems borers. The
main disadvantage of the cultural practices is that they need to be continuous and
collective process from field preparation to harvest. A good cultural practices field can
get infested if the surrounding farmers do not apply same or no management option.

3.2 Varietal resistance

Plant resistance is the genetically inherited qualities that confer the plant ability to
ward off or withstand pest attacks or recover from injury due to a pest [36, 37]. This
method is the most farmer-friendly pest control option that can significantly reduce
stem borer damage when supplemented with other options such as cultural or biologi-
cal measures. It is most attractive as the use of insecticides is largely beyond the means
of the small farmer. Considerable progress has been made in screening and breeding
for host plant resistance to cereals’ stem borers but only limited number of varieties
have shown good level of resistance. Wiseman [38] showed that the resistant cultivar
should be the base from which integrated pest management strategies arise. Rana et al.
[39] reported that antibiotic property in sorghum plays more role in plant resistance
to stem borer than ovipositional non-preference. Some plant biophysical characters
such as stem hardness, leaf hairiness are important in plant resistance to stem borers.
Sorghum varieties having these traits are rejected by the moths for oviposition. Pearl
millet varieties such as Zongo was reported to be moderately resistant to Coniesta
ignefusalis [40]. According to [41], hairiness of leaves and leaf sheaths were partly

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Stem Borers of Cereal Crops in Africa and Their Management
DOI: [Link]

responsible for the differences in genotypic vulnerability to C. ignefusalis. Also they

reported that plants with trichomes were not preferred by this pest for oviposition.
[42] reported good level of resistance in the sweet sorghums BR 501, BR 504, and BR
505 to the sugarcane borer Eldana saccharina. [20], found good source of resistance to
diopsids among upland NERCA varieties. Also, they reported that rice varieties having
ability to produce new tillers to compensate the infested stems can tolerate the damage
by diopsid. So far no improved rice variety was identified to be resistant to O. oryzivora
attack but some tolerance was noted in Oryza glaberrima and also in some improved
released rice varieties in Nigeria such as Cisadane and FARO 51 [24]. Despite limited
achievement on varietal resistance to stem borer, this option remain a promising IPM
component. Recent advances in biotechnology can increase the prospects of generating
resistance materials and accelerate the transfer of gene for improving new genotypes.

3.3 Biological control measures

Biological control is the manipulation of natural enemies with the aim to

maintain pest population below the economic injury level (EIL). Several organ-
isms such as insects, fungus, virus and bacteria can be used as biocontrol agents
[13, 43]. Insects based organisms acting as natural enemies are either predators
(using the host as food) or parasitoids (laying their eggs in the host). Most of these
insects belong to hymenoptera or diptera orders [27]. Biocontrol appears to be
one of the most effective and environment friendly management option of stem
borers. Indeed, stem borer’s population and damage can be regulated by sustaining
the action of natural enemies. This can be done through a good habitat manage-
ment to favor the buildup of the population of natural enemies (spiders, wasps,
ladybirds, etc.) or through mass rearing and field release of specific parasitoids
to control target pest species. The success of the release of several parasitoids was
reported in managing cereals stem borers in Africa. Two natural enemies of the
maize stalkborer (B. fusca) are the larval parasitoids Cotesia sesamiae and Bracon
sesamiae [31, 44]. Parasitoids such as Tetrastichus atriclavus, Apanteles sesamiae,
and Pediobius furvus have been reported by [13] to be most important parasites
of B. fusca. Similarly Cotesia flavipes and Xanthopimpla stemmator was reported
to effectively control the spotted stem borer C. partellus [4]. The parasitoids
Cotesia sesamiae, Xanthopimpla stemmator, Trichogramma spp, etc. are cited as good
biocontrol agent against the pink Stem Borer Sesamia calamistis (Togola, unpub-
lished data). The biological control of the cereal stem borers is mainly based on
habitat management to sustain natural enemies including various parasitoids
wasp. [45] found that that the contribution of egg parasitism is more important
in controlling lepidopteran stem borers than parasitism of larvae and pupae. The
African rice gall midge (AfRGM) is attacked by two parasitoids such as Platygaster
diplosisae (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) and Aprostocetus procerae (Hymenoptera:
Eulophidae) that can decrease the population of the pest below the economic
injury threshold in rice-production systems [25]. Several insects species such as
Cyrtorhinus viridis (Heteroptera: Miridae), Conocephalus longipennis (Orthoptera:
Tettigoniidae) and Anaxipha longipennis (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) are predators of
AfRGM [24]. The effectiveness and sustainability of the biological control meth-
ods depends on the availability of the biocontrol agent at suitable density. Practices
such as habitat management or avoiding the use of wide spectrum chemicals
can contribute to increase the carry-over of population of natural enemies and
maintain the pest population below a critical level. The main constraints of the
biocontrol measures are the difficulty to find the specific biocontrol agents for
targeted pest species, the complexity of the mass rearing and the complication to
be explained by extension workers and to be implemented by farmers.

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3.4 Chemical control

Chemical control, despite all the danger and environmental hazard, remains
an important option to consider in situation where the pest population is already
established. Also it can be used as IPM component to supplement varietal resistance
or cultural practices. Chemical control can be achieved by applications of granules
or dusts to the leaf whorl early in crop growth to kill early larval instars of E. sac-
charina [10]. Controlling M separatella using chemical insecticides is effective but
not widely practiced because of the high costs involved [46]. As for O. oryzivora,
chemical control can be envisaged in conditions of high infestation of rice field. In
all cases, choice of selective systemic insecticides is needed to avoid adverse effects
on non-target organisms and biodiversity.

3.5 Integrated pest management option

The individual control methods discussed above have their limitations and none
often is sufficient to adequately control stem borer outbreaks. Hence, the integrated
pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control (IPC) appears to be
the most appropriate option for managing these pests. IPM requires the combina-
tion of several compatible and complementary practices with the aim to maintain
pest populations below the economic injury level (EIL) while reducing the use of
high hazardous pesticides and sustaining the action of natural enemies. Several
studies have reported the success of IPM in the management of cereals’ stem borers.
[25] reported that varietal resistance/tolerance, cultural practices and biological
control are important components of integrated management of rice stem borers.
Similarly [24] found that the effective control of the African Rice Gall Midge relies
on the combination of cultural practices, habitat management and moderate use of
insecticide chemical. Kega [47] demonstrated that the use of resistant rice cultivars
and entomopathogenic nematodes is a viable method to control M. separatella.
Nwanze and Mueller [48] indicated that host plant resistance and cultural practices
should be major components in the integrated management of sorghum stem borers.
According to [49] an increase of yield can be obtained when sorghum varieties with
tolerance or moderate resistance to stem borer are coupled with need-based applica-
tion of pesticides. Youm et al. [41] suggested options such as early planting, destruc-
tion of crop residues and use pheromone bait traps for successful management of the
millet stem borer C. ignefusalis. According to the conclusion from an international
workshop organized by the International Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics, cultural
methods and host plant resistance should be considered as the major components
of the integrated management of cereals’ stem borers [50]. However these practices
need to be reinforced with other measures such as biological control and if necessary
the use of selective systemic chemical . It is important to quote that integrated stem
borer management is likely to be severely constrained by the limited capability of
farmers to implement several options . For this reason it is highly important that the
IPM takes into account the community farming systems and know-how.

4. Conclusion

The stem borers represent a group of insects of economic importance to cereal

crops in Africa. Because of the nature of their attacks and the complexity of their
biology, the success of the management options will depends on the integration of
various strategies ranging from cultural practices to host plant resistance, biologi-
cal control and moderate use of systemic chemical when necessary. The cultural

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Stem Borers of Cereal Crops in Africa and Their Management
DOI: [Link]

practices and host plant resistance remains the major component of the IPM of
cereal’s stem borers. They can be reinforced by the biological and chemical control.
The cultural practices involve farmers’ engagement and cooperation. As for varietal
resistance, more research action is needed to identify or develop varieties that
tolerate the stem borers attack. Regarding the deployment of chemical and biocon-
trol options, more intensive action from extension service is need to increase the
capacity of farmers so that they can engage appropriate action to limit yield losses in
cereal and increase their incomes.

Author details

Abou Togola1*, Ousmane Boukar1, Manuele Tamo2 and Siva Chamarthi1

1 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kano, Kano State, Nigeria

2 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Cotonou, Benin

*Address all correspondence to: [Link]@[Link]

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link]
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

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Pests Control and Acarology

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Workshop on Sorghum Stem Borers. [50] ICRISAT (International Crops
ICRISAT Center; 1987, November. Research Institute for Semi-Arid
pp. 49-60 Tropics). International workshop on
sorghum stem borers, 17-20 Nov, 1987,
[43] Gahukar RT. Biological control of ICRISAT Center, India Patancheru.
insect pests of sorghum and pearl millet 1989. AP. 502324 India: ICRISAT
in West Africa. In: Biological Control
of Pests: Its Potential in West Africa.
Dakar, Senegal; 1981, 9-13 February,
1981

[44] Kfir R. Natural control of the cereal

stemborers Busseola fusca and Chilo
partellus in South Africa. International

68
 Section

carology

69
Chapter 5

Prologue: Scientific and Societal

Importance of Mites and
Acarology From the Viewpoint of
International Publication
Levente Hufnagel, Ferenc Mics and Réka Homoródi

1. Introduction

Mites are arthropods typically (and mostly) with a size of 0.08–1 mm; how-
ever, exceptionally they might have individuals even with a size of 3 cm among
the ticks (Ixodida) when full of blood. Nowadays, they are rather considered to
be a morphological or life-form group than an evolutional zoosystematic con-
cept. By comparing the body size, the size range of terrestrial soil mesofauna is
0.1–2 mm and the size range of insects is 0.2–300 mm, whereas in water ecosys-
tems, microplankton has a range of 0.02–0.2 mm and mesoplankton has a range
of 0.2–20 mm.
It is doubtless that all of them belong to the class Arachnida of the sub-
phylum Chelicerata; however, the monophyletic origin of the subclass Acari
is in question. Probably their groups Anactinotrichida (Parasitiformes) and
Actinotrichida (=Acariformes) have to be considered as separate subclasses.
Chelicerates were the first multicellular animals on land (in the Silurian), and
their sea life-forms are known from the Cambrian Period on; however, their
ancestors might have been present in the Ediacaran fauna as well, although their
relationship with the Trilobites is not sufficiently explained. Back to the mites,
Actinotrichida is known from the Devonian period. Several of their fossils cannot
be distinguished morphologically from recent genera. Their relationship with the
subclass Solifugae has been suggested. However, their group Anactinotrichida is
known only from the Cretaceous Period on; it is not impossible that they form
a monophyletic group with the subclass Ricinulei (which do not belong to the
mites); however, their relationship with the group Pseudoscorpiones has also
been suggested. They are mostly oviparous; however, viviparism also occurs, and
even mature offspring may be born (e.g. Pyemotidae). Postembryonal develop-
ment of the arachnids is usually epimorphosis; however, hemi-metamorphosis
can be observed among the mites (with separate larval form and various
nymphal forms; even the number of legs can vary from two to three pairs); this
phenomenon also shows similarity with the subclass Ricinulei. Sometimes the
postembryonal development is very complex, that of the male and the female
can be different, which allows them to have different ecological functions. The
phylogeny of Chelicerates is summarised by [1].

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Pests Control and Acarology

2. The scientific importance of mites

Mites form the most prevalent and diverse group of the subphylum Chelicerata.
They are basically and mostly terrestrial animals; however, they also have freshwater
and sea species secondarily. Multicellular animals which returned from the land
to permanent sea life for the first time in the history of the Earth (in the Permian)
belong here (Trombidiformes: Halacaridae). As for feeding, they have herbivo-
rous, fungivorous, deposit feeder, predator and parasite species as well, which is a
unique (and evolutionary secondary) feature among the mostly predator arachnids.
Although their active motion is not efficient due to their small body, anemochorous,
hydrochorous, biochorous and anthropocorous methods of dispersal are also known;
thus, many of their species are cosmopolitans. Many of their ancient species live in
tropical rain forests, moss forests and bogs, whereas in the temperate and arctic zones
as well as in the (even tropical) mountains, their younger, derived forms are frequent.
In South America, in the higher regions of the Pacific Mountain Range, Holarctic
fauna can extend as far as South Chile, whereas at a lower height above sea level, the
neotropical fauna becomes dominant in the southern part of Central America. At the
same time, in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, in high elevations, their Antarctic
species are present [2]. They are abundant in all biogeographical regions and all
biomes, from the tundra through semi-deserts to the rain forests, from the Antarctica
to the Arctic. They are extremely resistant to both physical and chemical impacts.
Several of their species can tolerate dehydration well and others are able to live in sea
water permanently (deep in the zone of eternal darkness), whereas others can tolerate
the total freezing of the substrate surrounding them. The permanent darkness and
the low oxygen level do not cause problems either. In most of their species resistance
had developed to the special acaricides as well [3–5]. In case of a record-breaking
mass extinction due to the destruction of the environment by mankind, they will have
representatives among the survivors, since many of their groups had survived the
most devastating Permian-Triassic extinction to date almost without any change.
The number of their taxa is very uncertain, the number of their species
described so far exceeds 80,000, the number of their genera exceeds 3000 and that
of their families exceeds 800. However, these numbers do not mean much. On the
one hand, based on the pace of the species descriptions, the majority of species liv-
ing on the Earth (even 90–95%) is still unknown for the science; on the other hand,
their morphologically described species may prove to be several different species
based on molecular studies. At the same time, it is doubtless that the majority of
species was described by museologists who had the interest in increasing the num-
ber of species names in favour of their scientific career; thus it cannot be precluded
that up to three-fourths of the described species has to be synonymised in the
future. Their sometimes surprisingly significant sexual dimorphism may also play a
role in this. Finally, uncertainty is increased by the fact that permanently partheno-
genetic, asexual populations also occur among the mites. In this case, the definition
of species itself becomes uninterpretable, since even each of their individuals can
be considered as a separate species due to the existing gene flow barrier and the
individual genetic differences which can certainly be easily demonstrated. However,
it is doubtless that we face huge morphological, ecological and molecular diversity.
The research of mites is of great importance due to their quantity and role in the
cycle of materials, since there can be tens of thousands of individuals belonging to
up to 300–400 species in a handful of tropical soil, moss, bark, hanging soil, bro-
meliad funnel or tussock. There is no flat, city park, agricultural area, rubbish heap,
tumbledown building or any other habitats where they are not abundant. They can
be determined in the decomposition in the soils and especially in the inimitably
waste-free cycle of materials in the floodplain tropical forests.

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Prologue: Scientific and Societal Importance of Mites and Acarology From the Viewpoint…
DOI: [Link]

3. The social importance of mites

The role of mites (especially that of oribatid mites but also that of prostigmatic,
mesostigmatic and astigmatic mites) in the cycle of materials in soils is not fully
explained yet; however, their importance in agriculture and forestry is obvious
(especially in the tropics). Without them, the release of plant nutrients from
corpuscular organic materials would be much slower, and efficient agricultural
production would be impossible in many cases. However, some phytophagous
groups (e.g. Tetranychoidea, Tarsonemidae, Eriophyidae and Penthaleidae) can be
significant pests in horticulture, agriculture and forestry. Research on the biologi-
cal pest control of Tetranychus urticae is of special importance [6, 7]. Besides, they
can be parasites and disease vectors (e.g. Varroa spp.) of bee species which have a
significant role in pollination. On the contrary, other, mostly predator, mite groups
contribute to biological pest management and ecological farming (Phytoseiidae).
The minority of mites is of public health or animal health importance as para-
sites (e.g. Sarcoptidae, Psoroptidae, Knemidokoptidae, Demodicidae, Cheyletidae),
as vectors of pathogens (e.g. Ixodidae, Argasidae, Dermanyssidae) or due to the
allergenic impact of their faeces (e.g. Pyroglyphidae). Forensic acarology is also an
interesting field of application, where they can be used as bioindicators. As indica-
tors, they are very promising in environmental and nature protection as well [8–15].

4. Volume and composition of the acarological literature according to

the data in the large publication databases

Top quality but minor part of scientific papers is published in English-language

journals with impact factor (these articles are available in the Web of Science Core
Collection database dating back to 1975). Collecting the older scientific literature is
more difficult; however, the Zoological Records database, which is part of the wider
collection range of the Web of Science, is helpful in this case. A less selected but
still internationally noted part of the scientific journals can be found in the Scopus
database. However, these are still a fraction of the large amount of articles which
were and are virtually published. Google Scholar provides a small insight into this,
and it collects all scientific articles available on the Internet; however, its scientific
criteria are much weaker. There are a large number of scientific journals available
only in print and in national languages all over the world which are published by
scientific research institutes, universities and museums but are not included in the
above-mentioned large databases; the quality of their review and the level of their
editorial board is often uncertain.
In order to be able to get a picture of the volume of the acarological research, an
analysis was made on the results of the available important databases and informa-
tion sources using some appropriate keywords (Table 1). We chose the Latin “Acari”
and the English “mites” words as keywords, and the Hungarian “atkák” word was

Keyword WoS Core Scopus WoS all Google MATARKA Google internet
Collection databases Scholar

“Acari” 19,805 26,903 50,975 275,000 572 5,030,000

“Mites” 36,605 43,186 49,128 650,000 144 30,300,000

“Atkák” 0 2 16 257 90 86,200

Table 1.
Number of results obtained with keywords related to acarology in different databases (status: 22 September 2018).

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Pests Control and Acarology

added as well in order to obtain some information also on the articles published in
minor languages. Accordingly, besides the international databases, the national
database of journals published in Hungary (MATARKA) was added as well. The
number of the Hungarian results may help with estimating the potential volume
of other hidden publications as a special indicator, considering that among the 243
countries (195 independent states) of the world, Hungary ranks 92nd regarding the
size of the population, and it amounts to 0.13% of the world’s population.
Finally, the table was completed with the number of results from the Google
browser, since these data and proportions help with evaluating the obtained
results.
The number of results in the scientific databases shows that the number of
scientific articles amounts to 0.1–5% of the general frequency on the Internet; this
is similar in the case of the Latin, English and Hungarian words. Furthermore, it can
be stated that the number of top quality articles (WoS CC) amounts to only 5–7% of
all scientific results on the Internet (Google Scholar).
The explosive increase in the intensity of scientific research is well characterised
by the temporal distribution of the number of results regarding English and Latin
keywords (Table 2).
On the graphs it can be seen that the increase in the research intensity is expo-
nential, and the fall back in the last years is an artefact, which can be explained by
the time needed for data to be included in the databases. At the same time, in the
case of the Latin term, a real stagnating period can be recognised in the twenty-first
century, which is not shown by the English keyword. This certainly refers to a break
in the traditional taxonomic, faunistic and museological approaches compared to
other (e.g. molecular and quantitative ecological or applied) studies.

Acari Scopus: 26,903 docs (September 22, 2018) Mites Scopus: 43,186 docs (September 22, 2018)

Table 2.
Temporal distribution of Scopus results between 1851 and 2018.

Acari Scopus: 26,903 docs (September 22, 2018) Mites Scopus: 43,186 docs (September 22, 2018)

Table 3.
Distribution of Scopus results based on subject area between 1851 and 2018.

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Prologue: Scientific and Societal Importance of Mites and Acarology From the Viewpoint…
DOI: [Link]

Acari Scopus: 26,903 docs (September 22, 2018) Mites Scopus: 43,186 docs (September 22, 2018)

Table 4.
Distribution of Scopus results based on type between 1851 and 2018.

Acari Scopus: 26,903 docs (September 22, 2018) Mites Scopus: 43,186 docs (September 22, 2018)

Table 5.
Distribution of Scopus results based on countries between 1851 and 2018.

Studying the distribution of the articles based on the subject area (Table 3), one
can see that more than three-fourths of them belongs to applied fields of research
(agricultural science, human health, environmental protection).
Studying the distribution of publications based on the type (Table 4), the high
dominance of primary articles is clear, which refers to the low synthesis level of the
subject area. This can have serious disadvantages regarding the application of new
knowledge and the knowledge transfer.
Based on the geographical distribution by country (Table 5), the results show
the dominance of the United States in this subject area so far. The contribution of
Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan seems to be significant as well.

5. Acarological research among elite publications considered to be an

outstanding scientific breakthrough

It is worth studying in which extent acarological research contributed to out-

standing scientific breakthroughs in the last four decades (from 1975 to February
2019). This study was based on the articles of the journals Nature and Science,
two absolutely elite organs of scientific research, using the keywords “Acari” and
“mites”. A considerable article was published in Nature in 2013, whereas in Science in
2019 for the last time. The results can be seen in Table 6. The results obtained with
the overview of the previous publications of greater volume are nuanced by 25% of
the publications which were results using the keyword; however, by overviewing 55
articles, it can be stated that those do not have real acarological relevance.

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Pests Control and Acarology

Nature Science

Allergy and health 5 5

Agriculture and plant-Acari interactions 6 8

Ecology and evolutionary biology 8 9

Mentions without real acarological relevance 6 8

Total 25 30

Table 6.
Articles related to acarology in Nature and Science.

Furthermore, it can be stated that 42% of the elite publications with real acaro-
logical relevance have solely basic research (ecological and evolutionary biological)
motivation, and 34% of them have agricultural science and 24% human health
motivation. Among the articles published in Nature, the publication by [16] on the
genome of Tetranychus urticae was cited on an outstanding number of times.
Another approach to elite publications is studying the most cited acarological
articles in the WoS Core Collection database. Among the 60 most cited articles,
32 are related to allergy or human health, 19 are related to agriculture (11 to pest
management and 8 to apiary), 5 are related to ecological basic research and 4 of
them are without real acarological relevance. Concerning acarology, the following
publications had an especially outstanding citation impact: [17] on the biology
of Varroa destructor, [18] on the global patterns of soil communities, [16] on the
genome of Tetranychus urticae, [19] on Rhipicephalus sanguineus related to veterinary
parasitology as well as [20] on the European distribution of Ixodes ricinus.

6. Forefront of acarological research

The repository of the top quality and internationally recognised publications is

the WoS Core Collection database. In WoS Core Collection, there are 2763 results
(published between 1 January 2018 and 15 February 2019) with the keyword “Acari”
or “mites” in their topic. Among these, 64% are related to human health, 35% have
classical zoological approach, only 4% have ecological approach, also 4% have
agricultural approach and only 5% have multidisciplinary approach (articles may
belong to several categories; thus, these percentages cannot be added up).
This proportion is striking, since it shows that a significant part of the research
on such an important group is not related to ecological, sustainability, agricultural
and multidisciplinary research connected with the global ecological crisis of our
time and the sixth mass extinction in the geological present, but to the diseases of a
single species (human). What is more, it is not related to diseases considered to be
the main causes of death, but mostly to allergy, whose main agents are not mites.
Among 2763 publications, 2682 were written in English, the second most
important language is Spanish with 20 articles, then German comes with 16 articles
and more than one article was written in Turkish, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian,
French, Polish and Korean. (The above-mentioned Hungarian language is repre-
sented by one article.) This is natural, since the international language of science
is basically English, and this database contains only articles of elite journals with
impact factor conforming to the highest scientific criteria.
However, the ranking of research by countries is much more important than
by languages, where behind the United States, China comes in second, preceding

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Prologue: Scientific and Societal Importance of Mites and Acarology From the Viewpoint…
DOI: [Link]

Figure 1.
Frequency distribution of acarological papers based on countries (WoS Core Collection).

Figure 2.
Frequency distribution of environmental papers based on countries (WoS Core Collection).

Brazil and significantly outpacing the United Kingdom, which rank well before it in
the summary relating to all time (Figure 1). The rise in Chinese scientific research
is rather spectacular in other subject areas as well; this must set an example for all
countries of the world.
If we do not search for mites but for the keyword combination “global problems
or ecology or environment” in the same database for the same period, among the
found 15,431 sources, the majority is published by Chinese authors (Figure 2). It
would be worth studying the Chinese research funding and educational system;
however, this is not the subject of this book.
The studied 2763 acarological publications were cited by other works 1794
times (1084 without self-citation) until the deadline of this study (16 February
2019), the h-index equals to 10 and the average number of citations is 0.65. There
are 13 publications which are already cited more than 10 times. Among them, five
are related to allergology and four to agricultural plant protection. None of the 10
articles was published in a specifically acarological journal; however, it is gladsome
that two reviews can be found among them, which can improve the low synthesis
level of the subject area.

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Pests Control and Acarology

7. Future perspectives, main directions and tasks of acarological

research

In the front-rank scientific research, the main future research directions and
tasks cannot be determined, and the real perspectives cannot be overviewed either,
since these are results of the individual creativity of researchers and are inherently
unpredictable. According to an article published in Nature by [21], the scientists of
the University of Chicago, the larger a research team is, the less likely they will have
really creative and innovative results. The outstanding intellectual work is basically
individual, which can be efficiently fostered by some colleagues at most. However,
larger teams and aligned research can have an important role in the accomplish-
ment of existing ideas, setting up large databases and supporting future brilliant
research. Concerning these, the following main tasks can be highlighted:

1. Taxonomical and biogeographical exploration of mite biodiversity

2. Quantitative coenological exploration of communities in intact ecosystems

concerning mites as well

3. Preciser exploration of production biological roles of mites, especially in flood-

plain tropical forests and other natural and seminatural habitats

4. Exploration of phylogenetic relationships of mites up to the level of the known

genera

Author details

Levente Hufnagel1,2*, Ferenc Mics1 and Réka Homoródi2

1 Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Science, Laboratory of Biometrics

and Quantitative Ecology, Institute of Crop Production, Szent István University,
Gödöllő, Hungary

2 ALÖKI Applied Ecological Research and Forensic Institute Ltd., Budapest,

Hungary

*Address all correspondence to: leventehufnagel@[Link]

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link]
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

78
Prologue: Scientific and Societal Importance of Mites and Acarology From the Viewpoint…
DOI: [Link]

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[5] Wei P, Li J, Liu X, et al. Functional [11] Gergócs V, Hufnagel L. A new

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disturbance. Environmental Monitoring [21] Wu L, Wang D, Evans JA. Large

and Assessment. 2017;189(4):203 teams develop and small teams disrupt
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[14] Gergócs V, Rétháti G, Hufnagel L.

Litter quality indirectly influences
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[15] Gergócs V, Homoródi R, Hufnagel L.

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[16] Grbic M, Van Leeuwen T, Clark RM,

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Chapter 6

Ecological Spotlights on Mites

(Acari) in Norwegian Conifer
Forests: A Review
Siund Hågvar

Abstract

Long-term studies on mites in Norwegian coniferous forests are summarized.

In podzol soil with raw humus, mite densities could pass 1 million per m2, with 48
species of Oribatida and 12 species of Mesostigmata. Field and laboratory experi-
ments with liming and artificial acid rain showed that soil pH affected the structure
of the mite community. Certain species of mites and springtails typical for acid soils
did, however, show preference for a higher pH in monoculture. We hypothesized
that competition could be a strong regulating factor in microarthropod communi-
ties. Several oribatid species were flexible regarding soil type, vegetation, substrate,
and decomposition stage. The genus Carabodes showed examples on specialists:
two species were grazers on Cladonia lichens in dry pine forests, while three were
decomposers in dead polypore fungi. Another three oribatid species from different
genera were unique in excavating spruce needles, producing slowly decomposing
excrements, and probably contributing to stable, carbon-storing humus. In micro-
cosms, predatory Gamasina mites were seen to regulate microarthropod numbers.
Mites were able to adjust both their vertical and horizontal distribution in soil
according to environmental change. A local and temporary burst of fungal activity
could rapidly attract opportunistic fungal feeders. Several mites were active under
snow, often feeding. Some even penetrated into the snow layer.

Keywords: Acari, coniferous forest, ecology, mites, Norway, Oribatida,

review, soil pH

1. Introduction

Nowhere else, in nature, organisms are so densely packed as in soil. Combined

with a huge number of species, “biodiversity in the dark” has fascinated biologists
for long. In concert, soil organisms play a key role in terrestrial ecosystems, being of
fundamental importance for plant growth, sustainable crop production, and bio-
geochemical cycling of nutrients. At the same time, soil biodiversity is vulnerable to
human disturbance of different kinds. There is a critical need for understanding soil
processes, how soil organisms respond to global change, and to take measures for
long-term protection of soil biodiversity [1].
Mites (Acari) represent one of the species rich and abundant soil animal groups.
Oribatid mites alone cover five feeding guilds, including the ability to digest
chitin [2], and they represent four trophic levels in the decomposition process [3].

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Another mite group, Mesostigmata, contains a multitude of predator species which

control other microarthropod populations, both in the soil and in vegetation [4, 5].
Forest habitats, especially old forests with a well-developed litter layer, tend to have
a high mite density, often with a species-rich fauna of oribatids [6–8].
Norwegian coniferous forests represent the western outpost of the Eurasian
taiga. This giant forest belt, which is dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.)
H. Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus silvestris L.), typically contains a well-developed
raw humus layer which represents a considerable global carbon storage. The slowly
decomposing needles, cones, and other litter items in the forest floor create a
fungus rich and sometimes deep, humus world, in which several mite groups thrive,
including many oribatid species.
The present review is a synthesis of mite studies in coniferous forest soils of
Southern Norway, published over a 40-year period [9–26]. In the 1970s, extensive
studies on soil microarthropods were initiated as part of a large project, “Effects
of acid precipitation on forest and soil,” and certain subjects were followed up
long after the project was ended. In addition to summing up field and laboratory
experiments with liming and artificial acid rain, spotlights will be given on the fol-
lowing topics: density and species numbers of mites, their horizontal and vertical
distribution, effects of different pH, vegetation types, soils and substrates, suc-
cession in the mite fauna during decomposition, whether mites can influence the
humification process, how species within one genus may differ in habitat use, an
experiment on the predatory effect of Gamasina mites, and mite activity beneath
and within snow.

2. Material and methods

2.1 Study areas

2.1.1 Main study area: Nordmoen

This was a spruce forest with Vaccinium myrtillus L. vegetation, situated on a

flat plain of glaciofluvial sandy deposits, about 45 km N of Oslo. On clearcut areas,
Deschampsia flexuosa (L.) dominated. The soil was a stone-free iron podzol with a
3 cm thick organic layer and a correspondingly bleached layer below. Experiments
with artificial acidification and liming and decomposition experiments with litter
bags were performed here, partly in a young spruce stand, and partly on a clearcut
area [14].

2.1.2 Two study areas covering the range of coniferous forest types: Ås (A) and
Skrukkelia (B)

Two study areas were chosen for soil sampling in natural forest, each area with a
gradient in vegetation types from the poorest pine forest to the richest spruce forest
[15, 27]. Area A near Ås, about 30 km south of Oslo, had a cover of marine sedi-
ments. In area B in Skrukkelia, NW of lake Hurdalssjøen and about 60 km north of
Oslo, the soil was mainly morainic deposits. In both study areas, spruce forest with
Vaccinium myrtillus dominated. Listed after increasing soil fertility based on plant
associations, the vegetation types were short named as follows:

1. Cladonia sp.: pine forest on iron podzol soil, with a dense cover of Cladonia
lichens. Due to a thin soil layer, conditions were dry, and trees grew slowly
(Figure 1).

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2. Calluna vulgaris: pine forest with less Cladonia, and a field layer dominated by
Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull. The soil was shallow peat in area A and iron podzol
in area B.

3. Vaccinium sp.: pine forest on iron podzol soil, with a dense cover of Vaccinium
myrtillus or Vaccinium vitis-idaea L., but also containing some Cladonia lichens.

4. Vaccinium myrtillus: spruce forest with Vaccinium myrtillus. Brown earth-like

soil in area A and iron podzol in area B.

5. Small ferns: spruce forest with small ferns, Dryopteris phegopteris (L.) C. Chr. and
Dryopteris linnaeana C. Chr. Brown earth in area A and iron podzol in area B.

6. Small herbs: spruce forest on brown earth, with small herbs like Carex digitata
L., Melampyrum silvaticum L., and Fragaria vesca L.

7. Tall herbs: spruce forest on brown earth, with tall herbs like Filipendula ulmaria
(L.) Maxim., Athyrium filix-femina (L.) Roth., and Aconitum septentrionale Koelle.

2.1.3 Study area for mites in decomposing sporocarps

Dead sporocarps of different wood-living polypore fungi were sampled in an old

spruce forest in the Østmarka area, about 20 km east of Oslo [24, 25].

2.1.4 Study areas for mite activity under and within snow

Activity under snow was studied in an old spruce forest with Vaccinium myrtillus
vegetation near Veggli in Numedal valley, about 150 km NW of Oslo. Here, at 850 m
above the sea level, a snow cover of 1–2 m is common [23]. In the main study area,
Nordmoen, mite activity was studied both under and within snow [11].

2.2 Methods for field studies

2.2.1 Soil sampling

Each vegetation type in areas A and B was sampled twice, in autumn 1977
and in spring 1978. Using a soil corer of 10 cm2, 20 soil cores were taken both

Figure 1.
The poorest coniferous forest type: slow-growing pines on a thin soil layer dominated by Cladonia lichens.
Certain drought-tolerant, lichen-feeding mites were abundant here. Photo: S. Hågvar.

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during spring and autumn in each vegetation type. The cores were divided into
0–3 and 3–6 cm depth. In the main study area at Nordmoen, the same sampling
method was used. Here, a clearcut area with 0.5 m high Picea abies seedlings
was chosen for intense studies. Eight random replicates were established, each
4 × 4 m. Density of mites per replicate was based on 10 soil cores, each 5.3 cm2
and 6 cm deep.

2.2.2 Artificial acidification and liming

Lime was applied as crushed CaCO3 (3000 kg Ca0 ha−1), and 50 mm of artificial
acid rain was applied monthly by adding sulfuric acid to ground water (Figure 2).
Treatments were no watering, pH 6 (control), pH 4, pH 3, pH 2.5, and pH 2. The
natural pH in the organic layer (upper 3 cm) was 3.9. Liming increased pH about 2
units, and the strongest acid reduced pH about 0.5 units. Only application of acid
rain with pH 3 or stronger lowered the pH in the organic layer [14].

2.2.3 Litter bag studies on succession

The clearcut area in the main study area was used to study the mite succession
during decomposition of spruce needles [19] and birch leaves [12, 13]. Cylindrical
litter bags, 3 cm high and with a diameter of 3.4 cm, were filled with 4.2 g (dry
weight) of naturally shed spruce needles. The litter bags were then inserted into
holes made in the raw humus layer, which had a corresponding depth. This is not a
natural position of the litter, but it allowed to study the preference among mites for
different decomposition phases. While the litter bags stood in this fixed position, in
contact with various depth levels of the organic horizon, all species had a continu-
ous access to the needles. With a mesh size of 0.6 mm, migration to and from the
bags was easy for all microarthropods.
Succession in decomposing birch leaves was studied in a similar way in the same
site. Cylindrical litter bags with a mesh size of 1 mm, 3 cm high and with a diameter
of 6.5 cm, were each filled with 6.85 g (dry weight) of naturally shed birch leaves.
These bags also received artificial rain of pH 6, 4, 3, and 2.

Figure 2.
Artificial acid rain is applied on a 4 × 4 m experimental plot with small pine trees.

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2.2.4 Mites living inside decomposing spruce needles

In the main study area at Nordmoen, naturally shed spruce needles were
sampled on snow and dried. Later, needles were stuck into fine-meshed nylon
strips, which were placed on the ground of a 10–20 m high spruce stand. Gradually,
needles were covered by new litter in a natural way. Strips with needles were recov-
ered after 4, 12, 16, 24, 35, 38, 40, and 52 months [22].

2.2.5 Sporocarp sampling and extraction

Dead sporocarps were brought to the laboratory, carefully fragmented, and

mites were extracted in funnels, using heat from a light bulb [24, 25].

2.2.6 Sampling mites active under snow

Specially designed pitfall traps were used [23]. The mechanism allowed sam-
pling without disturbing the subnivean air space near the traps.

2.3 Methods for laboratory studies

2.3.1 A “preference” experiment

This was a greenhouse experiment, where forest soil was kept in large plastic
boxes [10]. Microarthropods (and microflora as well) had the opportunity to colo-
nize sterilized soil (raw humus, poor mull, and rich mull) which had been adjusted
to three different pH levels. Cylindrical litter bags with a mesh size of 1 mm, 3 cm
high and with a diameter of 6.5 cm, were used. The design can be characterized as a
preference experiment, where also the ability to reproduce during the four-month
period influenced the establishment of each species.

2.3.2 Microcosm studies

Small microcosms were used, consisting of a cylindrical, open litter bag which
was inserted into a lidded plastic container. The litter bag was 3 cm high, 3.4 cm in
diameter, and made from a nylon cloth with 0.6 mm mesh size. Holes drilled in the
plastic container were covered with nylon cloth of 5-μm mesh size. Before adding
microarthropods to sterilized soil, microflora was introduced partly by soil water
sieved through 5-μm pores and partly by allowing soil fungi to grow in through
corresponding pores for 1–2 months. Then animals were added, either from mono-
cultures or from ordinary soil samples [17]. Raw humus adjusted to different pH
levels was used in the microcosms. About 25 microcosms were extracted after 3, 6,
and 12 months, respectively. This setup allowed for studying the effect of soil pH on
population growth in monocultures of selected species. An interesting by-product
was the effect of predatory Gamasina mites, which survived in some microcosms,
but went extinct in others [21].

3. Results and discussion

3.1 The coniferous forest floor: a high density and species rich habitat for mites

Podzol soil with vegetation type 4 in the main study area contained 48 species of
Oribatida and 12 species of Mesostigmata (Table 1). The density of mites was high.

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In the upper 6-cm soil, the mean numbers per m2, based on eight replicates, were:
Prostigmata (Actinedida) 490,000, Oribatida 220,000, and Astigmata (Acaridida)
10,000. The total mite density was 720,000 per m2. The highest total density in one
replicate amounted to 1.2 million mites per m2 [14].
Comparable data exist from Finland and Sweden. In southern and central parts
of Finland, mites were studied in four coniferous forest sites [28]. The localities
corresponded to vegetation types 2 and 4 in the present study. The densities of
oribatids, 186,000–351,000 per m2, were in the same order of magnitude as in

Oribatida Oribatida (continued)

Adoristes poppei (Oudemans) Oppia subpectinata Willmann

Autogneta parva Forsslund Oppia unicarinata (Paoli)

Autogneta trägårdhi Forsslund Oppia nova (Oudemans)

Belba cf. compta Kulczynski Oribatula tibialis (Nicolet)

Brachychochthonius zelawaiensis (Sellnick) Palaeacarus sp.

Caleremaeus monolipes (Michael) Parachipteria cf. willmanni (V. D. Hammen)

Camisia biurus (C. L. Koch) Paraleius cf. leontonycha (Berlese)

Camisia cf. lapponica Trägårdh Paulonothrus longisetosus (Willmann)

Camisia spinifer (C. L. Koch) Pergalumna nervosus (Berlese)

Carabodes femoralis (Nicolet) Phthiracarus sp.

Carabodes forsslundi Sellnick Platynothrus peltifer (C. L. Koch)

Carabodes labyrinthicus (Michael) Porobelba spinosa (Sellnick)

Carabodes marginatus (Michael) Scheloribates laevigatus (C. L. Koch)

Carabodes subarcticus Trägårdh Steganacarus sp.

Cepheus cepheiformis (Nicolet) Suctobelba subcornigera (Forsslund)

Ceratozetes sp. Tectocepheus velatus (Michael)

Chamobates incisus (V. D. Hammen) Zygoribatula cf. trigonella Bulanova & Zachvatkina

Chamobatidae sp. Mesostigmata

Eueremaeus silvestris (Forsslund) Eviphis ostrinus (Koch)

Eupelops duplex (Berlese) Gamasellus montanus (Willmann)

Eupelops geminus (Berlese) Hypoaspis forcipata Willmann

Euphthiracaridae Leioseius bicolor Berlese

Hemileius initialis Berlese Parazerkon sarekensis Willmann

Hypochthonius rufulus C. L. Koch Pergamasus cf. lapponicus Trägårdh

Liacarus cf. coracinus (C. L. Koch) Pergamasus parrunciger Bhattacharyya

Licneremaeus licnophorus (Michael) Pergamasus robustus Oudemans

Nanhermannia cf. forsslundi Karppinen Prozercon kochi Sellnick

Nothrus silvestris Nicolet Trachytes sp.

Oppia cf. translamellata (Willmann) Veigaia cerva (Kramer)

Oppia obsoleta (Paoli) Veigaia nemorensis C. L. Koch

Oppia ornata (Oudemans)

Table 1.
In the clearcut area of the main study site Nordmoen, 48 species/taxa of Oribatida were recorded, and 12 of
Mesostigmata.

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the present study for vegetation type 4. However, their Prostigmata densities,
34,000–80,000 per m2, were only about one tenth of ours. As much as 62 oribatid
taxa were recorded in a Finnish spruce site with vegetation type 4. In another
Finnish study of spruce forest soil, 35 taxa of oribatids were recorded and a
relatively low density, only 70,000 oribatids per m2 [29].
In an old Swedish pine forest of vegetation type 1–2, 52 oribatid species were
recorded and very high densities [30]. As much as 425,000 oribatids per m2 were
found, which surpasses both the Norwegian and Finnish densities mentioned above.
Prostigmata numbers (210,000 per m2) were between Norwegian and Finnish
numbers, and total mite numbers (684,000 per m2) approached the high Norwegian
number of 720,000. We can conclude that Nordic coniferous forest soils with raw
humus have a very rich mite fauna, both in oribatid species and in total mite numbers.

3.2 Horizontal and vertical distribution

The main study area had very homogeneous soil conditions over a large area. It
was a flat plain with stone-free, sandy soil, without visible variations in moisture
conditions or vegetation. Still, as shown in Table 2, the horizontal distribution of
many species showed considerable local variations [14, 15].
In another experiment, litter bags with birch leaves were placed in the humus
layer of four random blocks. The mite fauna which colonized the litter varied
significantly between blocks [12]. The Astigmata species Tyrophagus cf. fungivorus
(Oudemans) colonized heavily in Blocks 1 and 2, while Oppia ornata occurred
mainly in the other two. Actinedida mites were especially numerous in litter bags
of Block 4, while the same litter bags had the lowest number of Autogneta trägårdhi.
Block 1 had high numbers of Oribatula tibialis, while Chamobates incisus had its
highest numbers in Blocks 2 and 3 (Table 3).
The study of vertical distribution in mites was restricted to the upper 6 cm.
Carabodes species only rarely occurred in the 3–6 cm layer and were to a large degree

Species Group Densities

Parazercon sarekensis M 1.7–5.2

Veigaia nemorensis M 0.1–1.7

Tectocepheus velatus O 20–110

Nothrus silvestris O 2–95

Brachychochthonius zelawaiensis O 2–100

Oppia obsoleta O 0–5.5

Oppia nova O 0–4.5

Paulonothrus longisetosus O 0–3.7

Brachychthoniidae O 20–200

Total Oribatida 80–360

Astigmata (Acaridida) 3–30

Prostigmata (Actinedida) 230–850

Total Acari 400–1200

Table 2.
Lowest and highest density of various mites (1000 per m2) in eight random study plots (each 4 × 4 m) on a flat
and homogeneous forest area. O = Oribatida and M = Mesostigmata. Mite density in a given plot was the mean
of 10 soil cores, 6 cm deep and with a surface area of 5.3 cm2.

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Species Sample Block numbers Significance

No
B1 B2 B3 B4
Tyrophagus cf. fungivorus I 533.5 735.8 13.5 2.3 B3 & B4 < B1 & B2

Oppia ornata III 0 0 21.7 6.3 B3 > B1, B2 & B4

Prostigmata (Actinedida) II 46.8 77.5 211.0 343.8 B4 > B1 & B2

Autogneta trägårdhi I 56.6 45.1 55.8 21.4

Oribatula tibialis II 208.5 92.7 44.9 28.6 B1 > B2, B3 & B4

Chamobates incisus II 0 2.0 4.6 0.6 B3 > B1 & B4

Table 3.
Examples of how the number of mites per litter bag with birch leaves may vary between four blocks in a flat
and apparently homogeneous forest floor [12].

living in close connection with Cladonia lichens on the surface [25]. In the main
study area, there was no sharp change in the mite fauna between the organic layer
(0–3 cm) and the bleached mineral layer (3–6 cm). For instance, the large Nothrus
silvestris was equally abundant in the two layers. However, the addition of strong
doses of lime or artificial acid rain was apparently stressful for several mites, forc-
ing animals to deeper layers. After treatment, the following oribatids moved sig-
nificantly deeper, shifting from living mainly in the organic layer, to live mainly in
the mineral layer: Nothrus silvestris, Suctobelba sp., Brachychochthonius zelawaiensis,
and total oribatids. However, Prostigmata mites showed a shift upwards in the soil
profile [14]. A frequent natural stress factor in soil is drought. In a Finnish forest,
Nothrus silvestris was seen to migrate into deeper layers during warm periods [31].
In the comparative study between different vegetation types and soils, all the six
selected mites showed variations in depth distribution, not only between habitats,
but also between seasons [15]. On the average, the following percentages of the pop-
ulations occurred in the upper 3 cm compared to 3–6 cm depth: 85% in Tectocepheus
velatus, 65% in Parazercon sarekensis, 60% in Schwiebea cf. cavernicola Vitzthum, 54%
in Brachychochthonius zelawaiensis, 52% in Nothrus silvestris, and 51% in Schwiebea cf.
nova (Oudemans). The somewhat deeper distribution of Nothrus silvestris compared
to Tectocepheus velatus has been confirmed by other studies [32–34].

3.3 Effect of ground vegetation and soil type

Eight mite species were studied systematically with respect to vegetation types
and soil characteristics [15, 25]. Five belonged to the oribatids, two belonged to
Acaridida, and one to Mesostigmata (Table 4). Most species preferred poor and
acidic podzol soils with raw humus (up to vegetation type 4), but S. cf. cavernicola
had the highest density in a poor brown earth (type 6). None of the eight species
were abundant in the richest soil, a brown earth with mull humus (type 7). The
non-Carabodes species in Table 4 were tested for correlation between population
size and soil chemical parameters. Soil pH, and the accompanying parameters base
saturation and calcium content, turned out to be the strongest explanatory factor.
Some other Carabodes species were so rare in all soils that they have been
excluded from Table 4, but further mentioned under the next point.
Comparable data from Finland and Sweden confirm that Nothrus silvestris and
Tectocepheus velatus occur in many different plant communities of coniferous forest,
but typically in acid raw humus, and with low densities in richer soils [31, 33, 35, 36].
Although preferences exist, it has been concluded on a general basis that many oribatid
species are able to persist in a wide range of humus forms and vegetation types [37].

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Species Group Vegetation type

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Carabodes subarcticus Oribatida 15.2 0.5 2.5 0.02

Carabodes willmanni Oribatida 37.1 43.1 4.7

Parazercon sarekensis Mesostigmata 3.4 1.5 1.8 4.0 2.9 1.3

Tectocepheus velatus Oribatida 175.3 66.8 99.1 47.2 7.4 11.5 0.7

Brachychochthonius zelawaiensis Oribatida 0.9 1.5 27.7 38.8 12.2 1.6 0.5

Nothrus silvestris Oribatida 1.8 3.5 14.8 22.0 3.7 7.3 1.9

Schwiebea cf. cavernicola Acaridida 0.7 1.3 7.1 4.0 7.8 11.3 2.6

Schwiebea cf. nova Acaridida 0.4 0.9 1.8 12.2 3.4 0.4 0.5
Numbers are mean value from two localities, each sampled during spring and autumn. Vegetation types 1–7 are
described in Material and Methods. Soil fertility increased from left to right. For complete vegetation data, see [27].

Table 4.
Abundance (1000 per m2 in the upper 6 cm soil layer) of some common mite species in seven different
vegetation types in coniferous forest.

3.4 Carabodes: a genus with different life forms

The combined study of mites in different coniferous forest types and mites
in decomposing polypore fungi illustrated that closely related species within a
genus (Carabodes) can fill quite different niches in the forest ecosystem [25]. The
most common Carabodes species in soil were rare in sporocarps and vice versa.
The first two species in Table 5 were considered Cladonia-feeders on the ground
and were able to live in a dry forest floor. The third species on the list is also a
lichen-feeder, which often climbs tree stems. Then, we have three fungal feed-
ers which decompose dead sporocarps and may achieve high densities in these
patchy and temporary habitats. Their relative numbers were rather similar in
dead sporocarps of five different fungal species, including annual and perennial
sporocarps, soft and hard. Although being tolerant to different fungal species,
these specialists were considered vulnerable in forests with little dead wood and
few sporocarps [25]. The five lower species have been found in low numbers,
both in sporocarps, in dead wood, and in soil. They are either generalists or have
unknown preferences.

3.5 Effect of soil acidity on mites—natural and manipulated

3.5.1 General results

Three approaches were used to test whether soil pH was an important envi-
ronmental factor for mites. First, a “preference experiment” was arranged in the
laboratory [10]. Here, mites were allowed to colonize soils adjusted to different pH
levels. Second, we studied responses to artificial pH changes in soil through liming
and artificial acid rain, both in the field and in the laboratory [13, 14]. Third, mites
were sampled in natural soils of varying pH, to check if there were species that
occurred mainly at certain pH levels [15].
Table 6 gives the most consistent results from the first two approaches. Clear
responses were found in three oribatid species, in total Oribatida, and in the
Acaridida species Schwiebea cf. nova. Raised pH due to liming reduced densities of
these taxa, while acidification usually led to higher densities. The third approach
from natural soils of different pH supported the pattern: species which increased

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Species In sporocarps In dead wood In soil Remark

C. willmanni Bernini (+) ++++ Cladonia-feeder on the ground

C. subarcticus Trägårdh (+) + ++ Cladonia-feeder on the ground?

C. labyrinthicus (Michael) +(+) + +(+) Lichen-feeder, common on tree stems

C. femoralis (Nicolet) ++++ ++ + Polypore specialist

C. areolatus Berlese +++ ++ (+) Polypore specialist

C. reticulatus Berlese +++ + Polypore specialist

C. marginatus (Michael) (+) + +

C. forsslundi Sellnick + + +

C. rugosior Berlese + + (+)

C. tenuis Forsslund + + (+)

C. coriaceus Koch + + (+)

Very high abundance is subjectively indicated by ++++ and very low abundance by (+). Short remarks are given for
some species.

Table 5.
Simplified overview on the occurrence of various Carabodes species in different forest habitats, compiled from
several sources. From [25].

Species Effect of liming Effect of acidification

Colonization Field Colonization Field Birch leaves
experiment [10] experiment [14] experiment [10] experiment [14] [13]

Field Green-
house
Nothrus silvestris — — +

Tectocepheus velatus — — + + + +

Brachychochthonius — — + + —
zelawaiensis

Total Oribatida — + + +

Schwiebea cf. nova — + +

Table 6.
Significant effects of liming and acidification on mite densities. Compiled from several studies.

in numbers during artificial acidification were often numerous in naturally acid

soils [15]. It was concluded that soil pH was a highly relevant environmental factor
for certain mites. Among them was the rather large oribatid species Nothrus silvestris
(Figure 3).
In field experiments with application of artificial rain, the structure of the mite
community changed in a characteristic way. Figure 4 shows how the dominance
structure was influenced by liming and application of “rain” with pH 2.5 and 2.
Watering with pH 6 was considered as control. The dominance of Oribatida
increased with increased acidification. Changes were mainly due to reactions in the
sensitive species from Table 6.
Finnish [38] and Swedish [39] experiments conformed well with these data, as
well as other studies referred to in [14].
Soil acidity is, of course, only one of many factors that modify the abundance
of these species, and the relation is not absolute. Even if the pH level is favor-
able, other limiting factors, for instance drought, may depress populations. The

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Figure 3.
Nothrus silvestris is an oribatid species that is typical for acid raw humus and declined after liming. Photo by
courtesy of SNSB—Zoologische Staatssammlung München.

Figure 4.
Effect of liming and acidification (the two most extreme treatments, pH 2.5 and 2) on the relative dominance
among mites. Watering with pH 6 was considered as “control.” The dominance of Oribatida mites,
indicated by double arrows, increased with increased acidification [14]. Actinedida = Prostigmata and
Acaridida = Astigmata.

experiments support the following conclusion: a high abundance in certain species

can only be achieved within a certain pH interval (and only if other factors are not
limiting), while within another pH interval, high abundance cannot be achieved.
In soils of the latter pH interval, the acidity level (or correlated factors) seems to
be limiting [16].

3.5.2 Is competition a key factor?

Relations between abundance of mites and soil acidity are difficult to explain.
Soil pH is a measure of the H+ activity of the soil solution. This parameter may have
a direct importance for the water-living part of the soil fauna (such as Protozoa and
Rotifera), and to other groups living in contact with the soil solution, as Nematoda
[40, 41]. Both Enchytraeidae and Lumbricidae prefer relatively high moisture in
the soil [42]. The survival of the Enchytraeidae species Cognettia sphagnetorum
Vejdovsky decreased rapidly when the animals were submerged in diluted sulfuric
acid of pH below 4 [9]. Many Enchytraeidae species show distinct relations to
soil pH, both in experiments and in the field [10, 39, 43, 44]. The dependence of
Lumbricidae species upon soil pH is well documented [45–47].

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Microarthropods, on the other hand, have a hydrophobic cuticula and are

restricted to the air-filled pore spaces of the soil. The relations described are
probably indirect. Several possibilities have been discussed [16]: changes in
ground vegetation due to artificial acid rain, direct effects of lime or sulfuric acid,
various factors correlated to soil pH, changed predation pressure, availability of
fungal hyphae as food, or fecundity. After having refuted several hypotheses,
the following laboratory experiment pointed toward competition as a possible
explanation [18].
Some microcosms were added a full soil fauna, while others were monocultures
of selected species. The acidophilic Acaridid mite Schwiebea cf. nova (later named
S. cf. lebruni Fain) thrived in monocultures. Starting with 30 specimens, popula-
tions increased to around 2000. Surprisingly, population growth in monoculture
was lowest in the most acid soil. In the “full fauna” microcosms, however, the
species revealed its typical acidophilic character and achieved the highest popula-
tions in the most acid soil. Quite parallel results were achieved for the acidophilic
springtail Mesaphorura yosii (Rusek) [18]. These species have an optimum at a high
pH when being alone. However, by some reason, they seem to be good competitors
at low pH. They were winners both in natural soils with a low pH and in various
experiments with artificial acid rain. Also the acidophilic oribatid Nothrus silvestris
reproduced best in limed soil when alone [18].
For Collembola, other laboratory studies on population growth, with or with-
out other species present, have illustrated that competition occurs [48, 49]. In
most cases, the presence of another species reduced population growth. The most
common mechanism was disturbance during oviposition. A classic study about
competition among oribatid mites was performed in microcosms with natural soil.
Two species with overlapping niches, Hermaniella granulata (Nicolet) and Nothrus
silvestris, were first bred in monocultures. When put together, both species under-
went significant shifts in their use of space and food. Their vertical distribution
changed so that Hermaniella moved upwards into the litter layers, while the Nothrus
population increased in the deeper fermentation layer [50].
Competition may attain many forms, and the topic is not easy to disentangle.
However, since species live so densely packed in soil, one can imagine that
disturbance or limited space or food may have an influence. If competition is
a key factor regulating population size in soil, a general study of competition
in microarthropods might be rewarding. Although a species may have its set
of preferences, the key quality may be its ability to compete under suboptimal
conditions.

3.6 The effect of predatory Mesostigmata mites

While the function of soil mites is often focused on their role in decomposition,
predatory Mesostigmata mites have the potential to control the density of little
sclerotized prey of various taxa. The evolution of strongly sclerotized bodies in
many oribatid species obviously has an antipredator role.
The microcosm experiment described above illustrated the predatory effect
of large Gamasina mites. At the start, 96% of the cultures contained predatory
Gamasina mites, mainly Veigaia nemorensis. This percentage was reduced to 73%
after 3 months, 62% after 6 months, and 50% after 12 months. The local extinction
of these predators often resulted in very high densities of springtails or mites. For
instance, after 1 year, the number of Schwiebea mites in certain predator-free micro-
cosms could amount to several hundred, while predator-containing cultures usually
had numbers below 30. Also for springtails, the highest populations were recorded
in cultures where predatory Gamasina mites had gone extinct [21].

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From the literature, another laboratory experiment illustrated well this top-
down control of microarthropods. The addition of predatory mites to isolated soil
cores containing a natural microarthropod fauna reduced the density of small and
less sclerotized oribatids, as well as Collembola and Protura [5].
In agroecosystems, edaphic Mesostigmata have been shown to be important
predators of Collembola and Nematoda, and those living on plants may efficiently
control pests like spider mites [4].

3.7 Succession in the mite community during decomposition of spruce

needles and birch leaves

In the main study area at Nordmoen, the clearcut area was used for litter bag
studies, as described above. Litter bags with birch leaves were placed out in July
1975. There were four samplings: September 1975, April 1976, September 1976,
and November 1978. The number of leaf-containing litter bags harvested at each
sampling was 32, 68, 128, and 78, respectively.
Litter bags with spruce needles were placed out in September 1977, and sam-
plings were made after 7 weeks, 8 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years. All
samplings, except for the second one, were taken at the same time of the year. There
were four replication sites, and 5–15 litter bags were harvested from each replication
at a given sampling. Detailed results were given for birch leaves [12] and for needles
[19]. Here, the main trends shall be presented and compared.
In both litter types, a gradual change in the mite community was observed dur-
ing the decomposition process. However, the succession pattern differed in spruce
needles and birch leaves. It means that mites in the surrounding soil were selective
about which litter they colonized, at which rate, and at which decomposition stage.
For instance, two oribatid species which were common in the soil, Tectocepheus
velatus and Nothrus silvestris, never became abundant in litter bags. On the other
hand, certain low-density species in soil could achieve very high densities in the
bags. In such cases, a high density was only seen in one of the litter types. Examples
in spruce needle bags were high density of Eremaeus sp. after 1 year, Steganacarus sp.
after 5 years, and Oppiella nova after 10 years.
A considerable number of spruce needles were decomposed from the inside by
certain specialized oribatid mites [22, 26]. Smaller, deeper-living species became
abundant after 5–10 years, when the needles had been more or less fragmented. The
fragmentation created new microhabitats and perhaps allowed for a more intense
microfloral colonization.
While colonization of needle litter was slow, and no species or group achieved
its maximum abundance within 8 months, colonization of birch leaves was much
faster. Here, certain mites, which had a low density in the surrounding soil,
appeared very numerous already after 7 weeks. Examples were three oribatid mites:
Oribatula tibialis, Eupelops duplex, and Autogneta trägårdhi, and one Acaridida
(Astigmata): Tyrophagus cf. fungivorus. Studies of the gut contents of these four
species revealed a mixture of fungal spores and hyphae, and some guts contained
mainly spores. This indicated an intense grazing, probably due to a temporal “flush”
of fungal activity. The same was seen for certain springtail species [12]. It is, of
course, important for soil microarthropods to detect such spatial and temporal
food sources, and it is reasonable to assume that animals were attracted from
surroundings by smell. Also other studies have documented a rapid migration of
microarthropods into decomposing deciduous leaves [51–53]. Such species can be
characterized as mobile opportunists. An abundant food source may allow a high
number of species and specimens to coexist in a substrate with a low structural
diversity. The body of Eupelops duplex, but also other species, was often covered by

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fungal spores or hyphae, promoting the spread of microflora to all parts of the litter.
The study also indicated that several species did not reproduce in the substrate, but
only visited it during the adult stage for feeding purpose.
Table 2 shows that litter-dwelling pioneer mites in birch litter had a very uneven
horizontal distribution, within 20–50 m. It meant that the succession pattern in the
early decomposition phase varied widely, even within an apparently homogeneous
forest floor. In later decomposition stages, however, the microarthropod community
was less variable and more predictable.
In both litter types, large, surface-living species were among the early coloniz-
ers, while smaller, usually deeper-living species, took over the dominance in later
decomposition stages. Since the litter bags had continuously contact with the whole
organic layer in the actual soil, the succession studies confirmed that deeper-living,
and often small species, preferred a more decomposed material.
While this experiment demonstrated that species often had different preferences
for litter type or decomposition stage, it also showed that many species had wide
tolerances and could survive, sometimes in low densities, under rather different
circumstances. In an English study of oribatid mites in decomposing leaves of beech
and chestnut, the 12 most abundant species were present in the litter bags through-
out the 20-month study period. During this time, species were able to remain by
changing their feeding habits [51]. Another example of high tolerance among oriba-
tid species to different decomposition stages of leaf litter is from Central Amazonas.
During the one-year long study, there was no successional changes in the species
composition [54].
Few decomposition studies last long enough to describe the late stages of the
microarthropod succession. For instance, in a study of root litter decomposition, it
was found that oribatid mites showed a preference for the late stages of decomposi-
tion [55]. A general challenge in litter bag studies is how to simulate natural condi-
tions. And even if natural conditions are achieved, the result may only have local
value. Anyhow, due to a high species number and an ecological flexibility in many
species, mites do in several ways contribute in transforming litter to humus. This is
exemplified in the next chapter.

3.8 From litter to humus: can mites influence the process and the products?

Juveniles of certain specialized mites excavated cavities in about 40% of newly

fallen spruce needles. Their activity reduced the decomposition rate of the actual
needles, at least temporarily, probably because their excrements decomposed slowly
[22, 26]. The adult mites, which hatched after about 2 years, attacked other needles
from the outside and fragmented these (Figure 5). Their “inert” excrement pellets

Figure 5.
Two spruce needles that have been fragmented by adult “box mites” (Steganacarus cf. striculus) kept in culture.
Two ellipsoide-shaped animals are seen. Excrement pellets are numerous. Photo: S. Hågvar.

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Ecological Spotlights on Mites (Acari) in Norwegian Conifer Forests: A Review
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may contribute to a stable humus layer and perhaps to carbon sequestration [26].
Also other studies have pointed to the fact that fecal pellets of oribatids decompose
slowly and may contribute significantly to humus production [56, 57]. Even pine
needles can be tunneled by phthiracarid mites [57].
Individual spruce needles may show quite different decomposition patterns, even
if situated close to each other in soil. While some are heavily transformed to excre-
ment pellets, others remain morphologically intact for years. Needles which happen
to come in close contact with fine roots may be rapidly “dissolved.” These “individual
fates” of needles may explain the heterogeneous structure of deep humus [26].

3.9 Mite activity beneath and within snow

Norwegian coniferous forest is covered by snow for several months each year.
When the snow layer exceeds about 20 cm, the temperature at the soil surface
stabilizes around 0°C [58]. At this temperature, several surface-living invertebrates
are active in the subnivean air space and even feeding [23]. Among these are several
species of springtails and mites. During two winters, pitfall traps were operated
under 30–150 cm snow in a high altitude spruce forest with bilberry vegetation in
Southern Norway. Traps were emptied and replaced at least monthly during the
snow-covered period from October/November to April/May.
Twelve taxa of Oribatida were trapped and 10 of Mesostigmata. A number of
Prostigmata were also taken (Table 7). The Oribatida material was dominated by
one species, Platynothrus capillatus. All developmental stages of this species were
active under snow, and fungal hyphae and spores in their guts proved winter feed-
ing. It was assumed that they were grazing on certain fungi known to decompose
litter beneath snow (snow molds) [23]. Also other species of Oribatida, as well as
some Prostigmata, had visible gut content.
In the main study area at Nordmoen, microarthropod activity both beneath
and within snow was studied [11]. Most surface-living springtails were winter
active and even migrated up into the snow layers. Among mites, four predacious
Mesostigmata mites and one oribatid species (Adoristes poppei Oudemans) were
taken in small numbers in pitfall traps, together with numerous Prostigmata. Mites
were also found within the snow layers: some Prostigmata, seven taxa of predacious
Mesostigmata, and six taxa of oribatids, of which Adoristes poppei was the most
numerous. It was suggested that microarthropods went into snow to escape possible
harmful water logging or ice formation in late winter [11].

3.10 Remarks on ecological flexibility and vulnerability

Several mite species showed a high tolerance for different plant communities,
soils, humus types, litter type, and succession phase. Both birch leaves and spruce
needles in litter bags were colonized by a high number of oribatid species. Several
of them occurred in both substrates, although colonization was much slower in
needle litter. Birch leaves represented an uncommon substrate at the actual site,
but probably offered a flush of fungal food. Furthermore, at least some individuals
of most species participated in various decomposition phases, where the substrate
underwent significant changes. Except for pH, mites seemed to have few strong
relations to soil chemical parameters [15].
Each mite species continually adjusts its vertical position, as far as narrow pores
allow, to optimize its survival, food access, and reproductive ability. Such changes
were seen also in the horizontal distribution. A more fixed vertical or horizontal
position of each species could reduce interspecific competition but would be a disad-
vantage as soon as adverse or favorable conditions developed in certain layers or sites.

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ORIBATIDA Stage Number Gut contents

trapped observed?

Camisia biurus Ad 3 No

T 2 Yes

P 3 No

L 2 No

Carabodes labyrinthicus Ad 2 Yes

Carabodes marginatus Ad 1 No

Carabodes sp. T 1 No

Chamobates pusillus (Berlese) Ad 1 No

Eobrachychthonius borealis Forsslund Ad 3 Yes

Oppiella neerlandica (Oudemans) Ad 12 Yes

Oppiella sp. Ad 1 Yes

Oribatella calcarata (C.L. Koch) Ad 1 No

D 7 Yes

P 5 Yes

Platynothrus capillatus (Berlese) Ad 10 Yes

T 9 Yes

D 14 Yes

P 8 Yes

L 2 Yes

Steganacarus sp. Ad 1 Yes

Belba sp.? Ad 2 No

T/juv 5 Yes

MESOSTIGMATA

Mixozercon serlachii Lehtinen 1

Zercon curiosus Trägårdh 1

Zercon colligans Berlese 2

Holoparasitus sp. 1

Lysigamasus lapponicus (Trägårdh) 4

Vulgarogamasus kraepelini (Berlese) 14

Veigaia nemorensis 6

Trachytes aegrota (C.L. Koch) 2

Urodiaspis tecta (Kramer) 1

Uropodina sp., nymph 2

PROSTIGMATA (ACTINEDIDA) 115 Yes

TOTAL 244
Numbers per 12 functioning traps. Only periods with a continuous snow cover are included. Ad = adults,
T = tritonymphs, D = deuteronymphs, P = protonymphs, and L= larvae.

Table 7.
Mites (Acari) caught in pitfall traps under snow during two winter seasons in a high altitude spruce forest,
central South Norway. Modified from [23].

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The present documentation [12] showing that many springtails and mites
change their food habits through the different successional stages is in good accor-
dance with other observations [51].
Within both springtail and mite communities, it is a general pattern that most
species are relatively rare. A high tolerance for various habitat or nutritional
factors, often combined with asexual reproduction, may keep species going on in
low numbers. However, when special conditions are created locally, rare species
may act as opportunists and flourish temporarily. They also represent an impor-
tant resource if the ecosystem has to adapt to a new situation, for instance due to
climate change.
Although single species may show tolerance to different environmental condi-
tions, the mite community as a whole can be vulnerable to various types of human
disturbance. For instance, in New York, the diversity of oribatid mites decreased
along a gradient of land use types in the order from forests, via abandoned fields
and willow, to corn [7]. A European review on mites as indicators of soil biodiver-
sity and land use monitoring illustrated how sensitive mite communities can be
to various types of soil disturbance [59]. Changes in the dominance structure of
mite communities were suggested to be an “early warning criterion” for stressed
mite communities. The author concluded that residual natural and semi-natural
habitats (such as old woodlands, riparian ecosystems, old hedges, and grasslands)
with species-rich mite communities found in rural and urban landscapes should be
preserved as refuges for dispersion of soil fauna.

4. Conclusions: spotlights in short

Coniferous forests are rich in mites: a podzol soil with acid raw humus may con-
tain more than a million mites per m2. This includes a species-rich oribatid fauna.
Flexible vertical and horizontal distribution: mites can adjust both their depth
in the soil profile and their horizontal distribution, either to escape stress or to
aggregate in a patchy and temporary food source.
Opportunism as a successful strategy: several litter-dwelling mite species rapidly
colonized birch leaves in an early decomposition phase, in order to feed on a tempo-
rary and patchy flush of fungal hyphae and spores.
Substrate flexibility: decomposition of spruce needles and birch leaves followed
quite different succession patterns, but several mite species participated in both.
Closely related species may differ widely in habitat choice and life forms: this was
exemplified in the genus Carabodes.
Predacious Gamasina mites matter: microcosm studies showed high popula-
tion growth of certain mites and springtails if predatory Gamasina mites went
extinct.
Oribatids matter in the decomposition process from litter to humus: specialized
oribatids excavate spruce needles and produce slowly decomposable excrements.
Soil acidity matters: colonization experiments and population studies in mono-
cultures showed that soil pH affected population size in certain species. This led to
predictable changes in the community structure of mites.
Successful competition under suboptimal conditions: surprisingly, certain mites
common in acid soils thrived best in less acid soil when being alone (in monocul-
ture). However, in acid soil, they were good competitors.
Mites are winter active: several mites are active under snow, often feeding. Some
even penetrate into the snow layer.

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5. Final remarks

There is an increasing awareness for preserving the huge biodiversity of soils

[1, 60, 61]. Fragmentation and various management practices of forests may affect
even these tiny animals. Some microarthropod species are confined to local soil
types, for instance under dry or wet conditions. Furthermore, a forest contains
various microhabitats in addition to soils. Examples are moss or lichen vegetation
on certain trees, suspended soils in birds´ nests, mold in old, hollow trees, decom-
posing wood, or fruiting bodies of various fungi. To preserve the species, diversity
of microarthropods may demand a relatively large forest area, covering a variety of
vegetation types, soils, humus types, and microhabitats.
Due to their long life span, low fecundity, slow development, and low dispersion
ability, oribatid mites have been suggested as suitable indicators of soil biodiversity
and land use monitoring. In this respect, there is a need to develop standardized
procedures for sampling and data analysis [59].

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for being allowed to reuse Figure 4 from Oikos, Table 5 from
Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, and Table 7 from Soil Organisms.
Zoologische Staatssammlung München gave permission to use the photo of Nothrus
silvestris. Ole Wiggo Røstad kindly helped with some figures.

Author details

Sigmund Hågvar
Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian
University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway

*Address all correspondence to: [Link]@[Link]

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link]
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

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Central Amazon. Brazilian Journal
of Biology. 2004;64. DOI: 10.1590/
S1519-69842004000100008

[55] Fujii S, Takeda H. Succession of soil

microarthropod communities during
the aboveground and belowground litter
decomposition processes. Soil Biology
and Biochemistry. 2017;110:95-102

[56] Pande YD, Berthet P. Studies on the

food and feeding habits of soil Oribatei
in a black pine plantation. Oecologia.
1973;12:413-426

[57] Ponge J-F. Succession of fungi and

fauna during decomposition of needles
in a small area of scots pine litter. Plant
and Soil. 1991;138(1):99-113

[58] Coulianos C-C, Johnels AG. Note

on the subnivean environment of
small mammals. Arkiv för Zoologi.
1962;Ser.2:363-370

[59] Gulvik M. Mites (Acari) as

indicators of soil biodiversity and land
use monitoring: A review. Polish Journal
of Ecology. 2007;55:415-440

[60] Hågvar S. The relevance of the

Rio-convention on biodiversity to
conserving the biodiversity of soils.
Applied Soil Ecology. 1998;9:1-7

[61] Hågvar S. The Huge Biodiversity

of Soils: Can it be Saved? Agricultural
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Publication. 2006;9:61-66

102
Chapter 7

Invasive Mite Species in the

Americas: Bioecology and Impact
Carlos Vásquez and Yelitza Colmenárez

Abstract

Invasive species represent one of the most relevant threats for biodiversity in
many ecosystems, mainly in those so-called agroecosystems due to which they
exhibit reduced biodiversity and simplified trophic interactions. These two fac-
tors make many niches unoccupied, thus increasing the risk that invasive species
especially arthropod pests occupy these niches or compete with native species. In
spite of potential impact of invasive species, our understanding of their ecological
consequences is developing slowly. In the last years, more attention is being paid on
phytophagous mites because several noneconomic species have become severe pests
on many crops as a consequence of irrational use of agrochemicals. Also, due to the
small size of the mites, they can be transported throughout the world and estab-
lished in new areas where favorable conditions and the absence of efficient natural
enemies favor their development. Thus, phytophagous mites are feasible to become
invasive species since they are able to provoke severe damage to plants. Since 2004,
Steneotarsonemus spinki, Schizotetranychus hindustanicus, and Raoiella indica have
been introduced in the Neotropical region. Information about pest status, seasonal
trends, and natural enemies in invaded areas is provided for these species.

Keywords: phytophagous mites, invasive species, Neotropical region,

Steneotarsonemus spinki, Schizotetranychus hindustanicus, Raoiella indica

1. Introduction

Natural environments are continuously submitted to severe transformations,

including movement of species beyond the limits of their native geographic ranges
into areas where they do not naturally occur and where they can inflict substantial
changes [1]. Thus, considering changes inflicted by alien species to the properties
of an ecosystem, an increasing number of studies that consider the environmental
impacts have been published [2]. However, according to Ricciardi [3], a predictive
understanding of the ecological impacts of invasive species has developed slowly,
owing largely to an apparent lacking of clearly defined hypotheses and of a broad
theoretical framework. In this regard, confusion about terminology used for the
designation of nonindigenous species, which alternatively have been called “exotic,”
“introduced,” “invasive,” and “naturalized,” is particularly acute, which leads to
confusion about ecological concepts [4].
Another term needing delimitation of definition is referred to concept of
impact. On an ecological basis, an impact is defined as a measurable change to the
properties of an ecosystem by a nonnative species, which is considered to provoke
a positive or negative impact simply by becoming integrated into the system [3].

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Pests Control and Acarology

Various studies have shown that nonnative species can promote extinction of
native species, and also they can provoke changes in genetic composition of native
populations, behavior patterns, species richness and abundance, phylogenetic and
taxonomic diversity, etc.
Finally, when considering invasive species in an agricultural ambit, it is strongly
recommended to define invasion threat, which is conceptualized as the likelihood
of a particular pest or pathogen arriving in a new location as well as the establish-
ment likelihood considered as the chances of those pests or pathogens to establish in
a new location [5].
Plant and animal species have been transported by humans for millennia; even
a well-defined period in biological invasions dates as far back as 1500 AD, a period
associated with the birth of colonialism and the start of radical changes in pat-
terns of human demography, agriculture, trade, and industry [6]. However, more
recently, increasing globalization and world trade have augmented the possibility
of arrival of invasive species to geographic regions in which they were previously
absent, making necessary to quantify impact of invasive species and develop effec-
tive biosecurity policy [4].
Since the end of the twentieth century, more attention is being paid on phy-
tophagous mites because several noneconomic species have become severe pests
on many crops as a consequence of irrational use of agrichemicals. Also, due to the
small size of the mites, they can be transported throughout the world and set up in
new areas, in which favorable conditions and the lack of efficient natural enemies
favor their development, resulting in economic losses [7]. There are various exam-
ples of introductions of phytophagous mites in new areas such as the cassava green
mite [Mononychellus tanajoa (Bondar, 1938)], the coconut mite [Aceria guerreronis
(Keifer, 1965)], and the tomato spider mite [Tetranychus evansi Baker and Pritchard,
1960] [7, 8]. Both M. tanajoa and A. guerreronis were introduced into Africa, while
T. evansi has been introduced in Africa in the Mediterranean Basin.
Similarly, some phytophagous mite species have been introduced in the
Neotropical region, i.e., Steneotarsonemus spinki (Smiley, 1967), Schizotetranychus
hindustanicus (Hirst, 1924), and Raoiella indica (Hirst, 1924). In the present review,
information about recent phytophagous mite on pest status, seasonal trends, and
natural enemies in invaded areas is provided for these species. Because invasive spe-
cies may evolve during the invasion process, comparison of behavior, and damage and
management options between native and invaded areas for these species will be useful
for understanding the invader’s success and their ability to colonize new regions.

2. Some concepts related to invasive species

The introduction of species beyond their native range as a direct or indirect

result of human action causes changes in the ecosystems to which they are intro-
duced [9]. Moreover, these biological invasions are causing tremendous damages
to ecosystems and economic activities [10]. Many important terms related to the
invasion ecology, such as “invasive,” “weed,” or “transient,” can be susceptible to
subjective interpretation, consequently causing a lack of consensus about terms
used to define nonindigenous species [4]. Thus, some terms such as “noxious”
and “nuisance” are generally used to indicate direct or indirect adverse effects on
humans; however, according to Colautti and MacIsaac [4], interactions have three
important implications:

a. It is necessary to define if invasive species cause aesthetical displeasing effects

and are vectors for serious human diseases.

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Invasive Mite Species in the Americas: Bioecology and Impact
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b. Species might be erroneously considered as an environmental threat (or weedy,

invasive, etc.) in areas where they have little or no impact only based on these
species had been identified as a disturbance elsewhere, disregarding thus the
ecological phenomenon.

c. A particular species can have both beneficial and detrimental effects.

Harmonia axyridis (Pallas, 1773) (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) is a well-known
predator widely used as a classical biological control agent of aphids around
the world; however, this species has provoked the displacement of native aphid
species in Brazil and other South American countries [11].

Some definitions of invasive species are the following:

a. An alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or

environmental harm or harm to human health.

b. A species that is nonnative to the ecosystem under consideration and whose

introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or
harm to human health

Invasion consists of a series of steps that an organism must undergo to become a

successful invader, and thus, it can inflict an ecological damage [12]. According to
Beck et al. [13], successful invasion is preceded by the following stages:

a. Large-scale geographical barriers: species from a geographical area is supposed

to overcome a geographical barrier (mountain range, ocean, or other physical
barriers) to arrive in a new area where it does not previously occur (so-called
alien species, nonnative species). This movement is often mediated by human
activities, either deliberately or unintentionally.

b. Survival barriers: these often refer to environmental barriers such as environ-

mental conditions that let the nonnative organism to survive and develop in
its new location. Other survival barriers may include host plants, competitor
organisms, predators, and pathogens.

c. Establishment barriers: depending on the survival abilities of the alien species,

it will be able to form a self-sustaining population and does not need a re-
introduction to support a population base.

[Link] and spread barriers: once established, alien species must disperse and
spread relatively fast from their site of establishment. However, this movement or
spread alone does not necessarily make this nonnative species an invasive species.

3. Mite invasions in the Neotropical region

Although bioinvasions have occurred for many years, most documented

cases have been reported in recent decades and even invasive or adventive mites
have gained attention only in the last few years when they have been the target
of research to determine their potential distribution [7]. After colonization, it is
fundamental to determine the intrinsic properties of the invasive population, the
genetic structure of populations, and the response to environmental factors to
developing strategies and policies of management [7].

105
Pests Control and Acarology

In the Neotropical region, several mite species have recently invaded the agri-
cultural landscapes in Latin America, for example, the citrus Hindu mite, S. hindu-
stanicus (Tetranychidae), the rice mite, S. spinki (Tarsonemidae), and the red palm
mite, R. indica (Tenuipalpidae).

3.1 Schizotetranychus hindustanicus

The genus Schizotetranychus includes 114 species; however, information about

economic importance of most of the species is still scarce [14, 15] (Table 1). Most of
the species occur in Asia and CIS, and only 20 species (17.5%) are in the Neotropical
region, including S. hindustanicus.
The citrus Hindu mite, S. hindustanicus, was originally described from
citrus from southern India (Hirst, 1924), and its occurrence had been reported
in this country for almost 80 years; however, in 2005, this species was surpris-
ingly found in the northwestern Venezuela [16] and soon after in Colombia and
Brazil [17].
S. hindustanicus had only been reported on four host plant species in India
(see Table 1); however, posteriorly, it was found on Acacia sp., Melia azedarach L.
and various citrus species (Figure 1). Symptoms of mite feeding first appear on
the upper leaf surface, along the main rib, later extending to the entire leaf; while
when feeding on fruits the females webs over concavities or depressions in the rind;
attacked fruits become uniformly silvered and hard under severe infestation [18].
Návia and Marsaro [17] reported that although this damage by mite feeding is sup-
posed to affect the commercial value of infested fruits, nothing has been published
about the resulting economic impact.
In Venezuela, S. hindustanicus has been observed forming colonies in several
citrus species and/or varieties such as C. latifolia (Tanaka ex Yu. Tanaka),
C. aurantifolia (Chistm) C. reticulata Blanco, C. limon (L.), and C. sinensis (L.)
Osbeck [19, 20].
In Colombia, this tetranychid mite species was first reported in the northern coast
in Dibulla (Guajira) and Magdalena [21]. After that, ICA (Agropecuary Colombian
Institute) carried out samplings in departments of Atlantico, Bolivar, Guajira,
Magdalena, and Vichada as shown in Table 2. Similarly, presence of circular whitish
spots on leaves and fruits of “tahiti” and “galeguinho” lemon trees in urban areas of
Roraima (Brazil) is alerted to the Brazilian plant protection authorities as this country is
the largest citrus producer [17]. According to these authors, dispersion of S. hindustani-
cus could cause high economic impact and/or commercial restrictions due to sanitary.
Since these tetranychid mite species can be the pest on citrus spp., some stud-
ies have been carried out in Venezuela. Niedstaedt and Marcano [15] observed
the effect that the developmental time of S. hindustanicus varied from 30.12 to
31.10 days on sweet orange or Persian lime, respectively, at 25°C. Additionally,
population studies on Persian lime, lemon, sweet orange, and tangerine showed that
number of individuals was relatively low in two peaks: the first peak during June
2005 with 24.17, 21.67, and 12 individuals was observed on tangerine, sweet orange,
and Persian lime, respectively, while the second peak with lightly higher number of
mites developed during April 2006 was observed with 69.17, 31.2, and 20.2 mites on
sweet orange, tangerine, and Persian lime, respectively [22].
Field observations on different citrus species have demonstrated that S. hindustani-
cus can colonize which seems to be verifying the entire canopy so far economic impact
have not been evaluated in the neotropical areas. There are some studies on this genus,
associated mainly with grasses such as rice and bamboo and some fruit trees [23, 24].

106
Invasive Mite Species in the Americas: Bioecology and Impact
DOI: [Link]

Species Host plants Distribution

S. agropyron Agropyron desertorum (Fisch. ex Link) Schult. The USA

(Tuttle and
Baker, 1976)

S. alni Alnus sp. CIS

(Beglyarov and
Mitrofanov,
1973)

S. andropogoni Andropogon annulatus Forssk., Chloris incomplete Roth, CIS, India, Mexico,
(Hirst, 1926) Dichanthium annulatum (Forssk.) Stapf, Oryza sativa L. Pakistan, and Thailand

S. approximatus Bambusa vulgaris Schrad. ex J.C. Wendl., Thyrsostachys Malaysia

(Ehara, 1988) siamensis Gamble

S. arcuatus Euclea crispa (Thunb.) Gürke South Africa

(Meyer, 1974)

S. asparagi Acacia horrida (L.) Willd., A. longifolia (Andrews) Australia, Germany,

(Oudemans, Willd., Ananas sp., Aspalathus sp., Asparagus sp., A. Hawaii, Israel, Morocco,
1928) africanus Lam., A. officinalis L., A. plumosus Baker, A. Portugal, Puerto Rico,
setaceus (Kunth) Jessop, A. sprengeri Regel, A. suaveolens South Africa, the
Burch., Protasparagus capensis (L.) Oberm., P. compactus Netherlands, and the USA
(T.M. Salter) Oberm., P. laricinus (Burch.) Oberm.,
Pteridophyta

S. australis Mundulea pungens R. Vig., Tephrosia striata Ecklon & Madagascar

(Gutierrez, Zeyher ex Steudel
1968)

S. avetjanae Spiraea sp. CIS

(Bagdasarian,
1954)

S. baltazari Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck, C. madurensis Lour., C. Burma, China, Hong
(Rimando, medica L., C. sinensis (L.) Osbeck Kong, India, Philippines,
1962) Taiwan, and Thailand

S. bambusae Arundinaria sp. Phyllostachys sp., P. nigra (Lodd. ex CIS, China, Hainan Island,
(Reck, 1941) Lindl.) Munro, P. reticulata (Rupr.) K. Koch Japan, and Korea

S. beckeri Calamagrostis sp., Dactylis sp., Helictotrichon sp. CIS

(Wainstein,
1958)

S. Cajanus cajan (L.) Huth, Cassia sp., C. siamea Lam., Thailand

bhandhufalcki Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, Pterocarpus macrocarpus
(Ehara and Kurz
Wongsiri,
1975)

S. boutelouae Bouteloua rothrockii Vasey¸Commelina dianthifolia L., Mexico and the USA
(Tuttle and Stipa eminens Cav.
Baker, 1968)

S. brachypodii Brachypodium silvaticum (Huds.) P. Beauv. CIS

(Livshits and
Mitrofanov,
1968)

S. brevisetosus Quercus sp., Q. glauca Thunb. Japan

(Ehara, 1989)

S. cajani C. cajan India

(Gupta, 1976)

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Pests Control and Acarology

Species Host plants Distribution

S. camur Arundinaria sp. USA

(Pritchard and
Baker, 1955)
S. celarius Arundinaria hindsii Munro, Bambusa sp., Ficus stipulata Australia, China, France,
(Banks, 1917) Thunb., Miscanthus sinensis Andersson, Oryza sp., Hawaii, Hong Kong,
Phyllostachys sp., P. makinoi Hayata, P. nigra (Lodd. ex Japan, Korea, Okinawa
Lindl.) Munro, P. reticulata (Rupr.) K. Koch Island, Taiwan, the
Netherlands, and the USA
S. celtidis Celtis reticulata Torr., Leptochloa uninervia (J. Presl) Mexico and the USA
(Tuttle and Hitchc. & Chase, Sporobolus flexuosus (Thurb. ex Vasey)
Baker, 1968) Rydb., Tridens pulchellus (Kunth) Hitchc.
S. cercidiphylli Cercidiphyllum japonicum Siebold & Zucc. Japan
(Ehara, 1973)
S. Calotropis gigantea (L.) W.T. Aiton Thailand
chiangmaiensis
(Ehara and
Wongsiri,
1975)
S. colocasiae Colocasia sp. Malaysia
(Ehara, 1988)
S. cornus Dysoxylum spectabile Hook. f., Elaeocarpus dentatus New Zealand
(Pritchard and (J.R. Forst. and G. Forst.) Vahl
Baker, 1955)
S. cynodontis Agrostis sp., Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. USA
(McGregor,
1950)
S. dalbergia Dalbergia melanoxylon Guill. & Perr. Zimbabwe
(Meyer, 1974)
S. denmarki Poaceae USA
(Baker and
Tuttle, 1994)
S. echinulatus Spiraea sp. CIS
(Mitrafanov,
1978)
S. elongates Bambusaceae China
(Wang and
Cui, 1991)
S. elymus Agropyron sp., Agrostis sp., Aristida adscensionis L., Mexico and the USA
(McGregor, Bouteloua hirsuta Lag., C. dactylon, Distichlis stricta
1950) (Torr.) Rydb., Elymus sp., E. trachycaulus (Link) Gould,
Hordeum sp., Malva parviflora L., Panicum obtusum
Kunth, P. scribnerianum Nash, Stipa ichu (Ruiz & Pav.)
Kunth, Tridens pulchellus (Kunth) Hitchc., Triticum
aestivum L., Typha latifolia L., Vicia pulchella Kunth
S. emeiensis Bambusaceae China
(Wang, 1983)
S. eremophilus Aristida adscensionis L., A. glabrata (Vasey) Hitchc., Mexico and the USA
(McGregor, Bothriochloa saccharoides (Sw.) Rydb., Bouteloua sp., B.
1950) barbata Lag., C. dactylon, Distichlis stricta (Torr.) Rydb.,
Lycurus phleoides Kunth, Tridens pulchellus (Kunth)
Hitchc.
S. euphorbiae Euphorbia amygdaloides L. CIS
(Livshits and
Mitrofanov,
1968)

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Invasive Mite Species in the Americas: Bioecology and Impact
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Species Host plants Distribution

S. fauveli Ficus edulis Burm. f., F. fraseri Miq., F. habrophylla New Caledonia
(Gutierrez, G. Benn. & Seem.
1978)

S. filifolius Aster filifolius Vent. South Africa

(Meyer, 1974)

S. floresi Arundo formosana Hack., Bambusa sp., B. spinosa Roxb. Philippines, Taiwan
(Rimando,
1972)

S. fluvialis A. adscensionis, C. cajan, Epicampes rigens Benth., India, USA

(McGregor, Muhlenbergia rigens (Benth.) Hitchc.
1928)

S. freitezi O. sativa Costa Rica

(Ochoa, Gray
and von Lind.,
1990)

S. gahniae Gahnia aspera Spreng. Australia

(Davis, 1969)

S. garmani Acer sp., Populus tremula L., Quercus sp., Q. robur L., Iran, Poland, Switzerland,
(Pritchard and Salix sp., S. caprea L., S. humilis Marshall, S. petiolaris and the USA
Baker, 1955) Sm., S. tristis Aiton

S. gausus Unknown Zaire

(Baker and
Pritchard,
1960)

S. glabrisetus Poaceae CIS

(Ugarov and
Nikolskii, 1937)

S. graminicola Molinia caerulea Milk. France and the

(Goux, 1949) Netherlands

S. guatemalae- Cassia nictitans L. Guatemala

novae (Stoll,
1886)

S. halimodendri Halimodendron halodendron (Pall.) Druce CIS

(Waistein,
1958)

S. hilariae A. adscensionis, Hilaria rigida (Thurb.) Benth. ex USA

(Tuttle and Scribn.
Baker, 1968)

S. hindustanicus Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Citrus sp., Cocos nucifera L., India
(Hirst, 1924) Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench

S. ibericus Quercus sp. CIS

(Reck, 1947)

S. imperatae Imperata sp. China

(Wang, 1983)

S. jachontovi Quercus sp. CIS

(Reck, 1953)

S. kaspari Calopogonium mucunoides Desv., Cordyline kaspar Hainan Island and New
(Manson, W.R.B. Oliv. Zealand
1967)

S. kochummeni Bambusaceae Malaysia

(Ehara, 1988)

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Pests Control and Acarology

Species Host plants Distribution

S. laevidorsatus Bambusaceae, Gigantochloa levis (Blanco) Merr. Malaysia

(Ehara, 1988)

S. lanyuensis Unknown Taiwan

(Tseng, 1975)

S. lechrius Cassia siamea Lam., Citrus sp., C. esculenta, Glycine max Indonesia, Philippines,
(Rimando, (L.) Merr., Pterocarpus indicus Willd., P. vidalianus Rolfe and Taiwan
1962)
S. lespedeza Bauhinia sp., Desmodium sp., Lespedeza sp., L. bicolor CIS, China, Japan, Korea,
(Beglyarov and and Taiwan
Mitrofanov,
1973)
S. levinensis Poaceae New Zealand
(Manson,
1967)
S. longirostrus Bambusa sp. Brazil
(Feres and
Flechtmann,
1995)
S. longus (Saito, Sasa senanensis (Franch. & Sav.) Rehder Japan
1990)
S. luculentus Diospyros sp. Taiwan
(Tseng, 1990)
S. lushanensis Cinnamomum camphora Meisn. China
(Dongsheng,
1994)
S. lycurus Leersia oryzoides (L.) Sw., Lycurus phleoides Kunth, Mexico and the USA
(Tuttle and Setaria macrostachya Kunth
Baker, 1964)
S. malayanus Manihot sp. Indonesia and Malaysia
(Ehara, 1988)
S. malkovskii Calamagrostis sp. CIS
(Waistein,
1956)

S. mansoni Oryza sp. India

(Gupta, 1980)

S. minutus Bambusaceae China

(Wang, 1985)

S. miscanthi Miscanthus sp., M. sinensis Andersson Japan

(Saito, 1990)

S. miyatahus Pterocarpus rotundifolius (Sond.) Druce South Africa

(Meyer, 1974)

S. montanae Muhlenbergia montana (Nutt.) Hitchc., Pappophorum Mexico and the USA
(Tuttle and mucronulatum Nees
Baker, 1968)

S. nanjingensis Phyllostachys sp. China

(Ma and Yuan,
1980)

S. nesbitti Poaceae South Africa

(Meyer, 1965)

S. nugax Hilaria mutica (Buckley) Benth., Poaceae Mexico and the USA
(Pritchard and
Baker, 1955)

110
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Species Host plants Distribution

S. oryzae (Rossi O. sativa, Panicum maximum Jacq. Argentina, Brazil,

de Simons, Colombia, Surinam, and
1966) Venezuela

S. oudemansi Vaccinium uliginosum L. CIS

(Reck, 1948)

S. paezi O. sativa, P. maximum Colombia and Venezuela

(Alvarado and
Freitez, 1976)

S. papillatus Bambusaceae Brazil

(Flechtmann,
1995)

S. paraelymus Bambusa sp. Brazil

(Feres and
Flechtmann,
1995)

S. parasemus C. dactylon, Dactylis glomerata L., Distichlis spicata (L.) Brazil, Colombia, Poland,
(Pritchard and Greene, D. stricta (Torr.) Rydb., Paspalum notatum and the USA
Baker, 1955) Flüggé, Vitis sp.

S. Lebeckia linearifolia E. Mey. Namibia

pennamontanus
(Meyer, 1987)

S. prosopis Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. Mexico

(Tuttle, Baker
and Abbatiello,
1976)

S. protectus Cliffortia linearifolia Eckl. & Zeyh., C. repens Schltr. South Africa
(Meyer, 1975)

S. pseudolycurus O. sativa Costa Rica and Panamá

Ochoa, (Gray
and von Lind.,
1990)

S. recki S. senanensis Japan

(Ehara, 1957)

S. reticulatus Grewia sp. Comoro Island and Zaire

(Baker and
Pritchard,
19600
S. rhodanus Unknown Zaire
(Baker and
Pritchard,
1960)
S. rhynosperus Rhynchospora sp. Argentina and Brazil
(Flechtmann
and Baker,
1970)
S. russeus Lomandra multiflora Britten Australia
(Davis, 1969)
S. saba-sulchani C. dactylon CIS
(Reck, 1956)
S. saccharum Saccharum officinarum L. Brazil
(Flechtmann
and Baker,
1975)

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Pests Control and Acarology

Species Host plants Distribution

S. sacrales Fabaceae Zaire

(Baker and
Pritchard,
1960)
S. sagatus Themeda australis (R. Br.) Stapf Australia
(Davis, 1969)
S. saitoi B. vulgaris Malaysia
(Ehara, 1968)
S. sayedi Ficus carica L. Egypt
(Attiah, 1967)
S. schizopus Populus sp., P. tremula, Salix sp., S. alba L., S. aurita L., CIS, China, Germany,
(Zacher, 1913) S. balsamifera (Hook.) Barratt ex Andersson, S. bicolor Hungary, Japan, Poland,
Willd., S. caprea L., S. daphnoides Vill., S. elegantissima Switzerland, the
K. Koch, S. fragilis L., S. nigra Marshall, S. purpurea Netherlands, the UK, and
L., S. subfragilis Andersson, S. viminalis L., Vaccinium the USA
uliginosum L.
S. setariae Setaria sphacelata (Schumach.) Stapf & C.E. Hubb. ex South Africa
(Meyer, 1987) M.B. Moss
S. smirnovi Juglans regia L., Malus domestica (Suckow) Borkh., CIS
(Waistein, Morus alba L., Prunus armeniaca L.
1954)
S. spicules Citrus sp., Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng. India and Kenya
(Baker and
Pritchard,
1960)
S. spiraefolia C. cajan, S. officinarum, Spiraea sp., S. latifolia (Aiton) China, India, Poland, and
(Garman, Borkh., S. pubescens Turcz., S. salicifolia L., S. trilobata L. the USA
1940)
S. taquarae B. vulgaris Brazil
(Paschoal,
1971)
S. tbilisiensis Agrostemma githago L., Bromus sp., Elytrigia repens (L.) CIS
(Reck, 1959) Desv. ex Nevski, Marrubium sp.
S. tephrosiae Balanites pedicellaris Mildbr. & Schltr., Eriobotrya India, Madagascar, and
(Gutierrez, japonica (Thunb.) Lindl., Mikania cordata (Burm. f.) South Africa
1968) B.L. Rob., Mundulea pungens R. Vig., M. sericea Hook. &
Arn., Tephrosia striata Ecklon & Zeyher ex Steudel
S. textor Elaeagnus angustifolia L., Lonicera sp. CIS
(Waisntein,
1954)
S. triquetrus Pentzia incana (Thunb.) Kuntze South Africa
(Meyer, 1987)
S. tuberculatus Morus sp. CIS
(Ugarov and
Nikolskii, 1937)
S. tumidus Melia radula (nonvalid name)1 China
(Wang, 1981)
S. tuminicus Bridelia monoica (Lour.) Merr. China
(Ma and Yuan,
1982)
S. tuttlei Arundo donax L., Cuscuta planiflora Ten., Mentha Egypt
(Zacher, Gomaa pulegium L., O. sativa
and El-Enany,
1982)

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Species Host plants Distribution

S. ugarovi Alhagi pseudalhagi (M. Bieb.) Desv. ex B. Keller & Shap. CIS
(Wainstein,
1960)

S. umtaliensis Acacia sp. Zimbabwe

(Meyer, 1974)

S. undulates Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd. ex Delile, Beaucarnea stricta India and Mexico
(Beer and Lem., Jasminum grandiflorum L.
Lang, 1958)

S. vermiculatus Poaceae Thailand

(Ehara and
Wongsiri,
1975)

S. yoshimekii O. sativa China and Thailand

(Ehara and
Wongsiri,
1975)

S. youngi Citrus medica L., C. paradisi Macfad. Taiwan

(Tseng, 1975)

S. zhangi Quercus gilliana Rehder & E.H. Wilson China

(Wang and
Cui, 1992)

S. Salix sp. China

zhongdianensis
(Wang and
Cui, 1992)
1
Species names that are nonvalid according to the MOBOT.

Table 1.
Worldwide Schizotetranychus species ( from [14]).

Figure 1.
Schizotetranychus hindustanicus colony on citrus leaves (a) and citrus leaves showing characteristic symptoms
for S. hindustanicus feeding (courtesy of Dr.). (b) Mario Cermelli and Pedro Morales.

3.2 Steneotarsonemus spinki

The rice mite, S. spinki, is the origin of southeastern Asia, where it has been
reported causing damage to rice crops varying from 30 to 90% in China and
20–60% in Taiwan [25]. Presently, it is considered as a serious pest of rice in
Tropical Asia and Caribbean [26]. Other than rice, S. spinki is associated to more
than 70 plant species including weeds growing near rice fields, such as wild rice:

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Department Municipality Presence/absence Host plant

Atlántico Luruaco −

Polonuevo −

Baraona −

La Guajira Dibulla +

Magdalena Santa Marta +

Santa Ana −

Ciénaga −

Zona Bananera −

El Banco

Guamal + C. sinensis
C. limon

San Sebastián −

San Zenón −

Vichada Puerto Carreño −

Table 2.
Surveyed localities in the northern Colombia to detect occurrence of S. hindustanicus ( from ICA, 2012).

O. latifolia, C. dactylon (Poaceae), Cyperus articulatus L., Cyperus iria L., and
Oxycaryum sp. (Cyperaceae) [26, 27].
The rice mite feeds on the adaxial surface of leaf sheaths and developing kernels
evidenced by brown lesions and consequently reducing photosynthesis and having
a negative effect on fertility [26]. Damage also results in sterile grain syndrome,
which is characterized by losing and brown discoloration of the flag leaf sheath,
twisted panicle neck, and impaired grain development with empty or incompletely
filled grains with brown spots and panicles standing erect. The damage to grains
showing sterility and malformed curved appearance is referred to as “parrot-beak”
[28]. On the other hand, Shikata et al. [29] found for the first time virus-like par-
ticles associated with the tarsonemid mites in the rice plants; the spherical virus-like
particles were isolated from the rice plants infected with rice ragged stunt, dwarf,
black-streaked dwarf, grassy stunt viruses, as well as from the “healthy” plants,
which were not inoculated with those viruses, and in addition, the same particles
were also found in the dip preparations of the rice tarsonemid mites and eggs.
S. spinki was first reported in North America in 1960 on Tagosodes orizicolus
(Muir, 1926) in Louisiana, USA. Several years after, the rice mite was found causing
damage in rice crops (O. sativa) in Cuba in 1997 [30]. Subsequently, this tarsonemid
mite spreads over all the Caribbean and Central America: Dominican Republic [31],
Costa Rica [32], Haiti [33], Panama [34], Guatemala, Honduras [35], and Mexico
[36]. In South America, it has been reported in Colombia [37] and Venezuela [38].
After being introduced in Cuba, outbreaks were registered from 1997 to 1998 when
an increase in vain grains of 15–20% and a loss of 2 t/ha were recorded [25]. At the end
of 1998, S. spinki was also found in Dominican Republic and Haiti, causing about 30%
of yield loss; however, less intense damage was verified as compared to Cuba [34].

3.3 Raoiella indica

The red palm mite, R. indica, is of Asian origin, and it is widely distributed in
India, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Israel, Oman, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan, and Mauritius
[39]. Since 2004, R. indica was reported from several Caribbean islands, including

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Martinique [40], Saint Lucia and Dominica [41], Guadeloupe and Saint Martin [42],
Puerto Rico and Culebra Island [43], and Jamaica [44] (Welbourn, 2007). More
recently, it has also been found in Venezuela [45], Colombia [46], and Brazil [47].
Raoiella indica can cause severe damage not only to Arecaceae, especially coconut
(C. nucifera), but also to Musaceae and other plant families [40, 42, 48] (Figure 2).
Infested plants exhibit a characteristic “yellowing” as a result of mites feeding on
the nutrient-rich layers of the leaves’ mesophyll tissues [40]. Raoiella species inflict
damage by introducing the infrastratum through the stomatal opening to feed on
the underlying mesophyll cells [49]. Therefore, the distribution of the stomata on
the leaf surface could have a greater influence on the feeding capacity of R. indica
on the host plant [50], and the severity of the feeding damage by the red palm mite
increases in the young plants [43, 51].
After RPM was reported in the New World, little was known about bioecology
of this Red palm mite. Regarding host plant, only coconut and Adonidia merrillii
(Becc.) Becc. had been recorded as host plants to this mite [41, 48]. After RPM
occurrence in South America in the coastal Sucre state of Venezuela, Vásquez et al.
[52] registered higher population levels of RPM on coconut, banana (Musa spp.),
ornamental plants, and weeds in the northern Venezuela (Figure 3 and Table 3).
These authors observed all RPM stages only on eight arecaceous, one musaceous,

Figure 2.
Coconut and plantain trees showing symptoms of R. indica feeding (A, B) and a colony of the red palm mite on
coconut leaves (C).

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Pests Control and Acarology

Figure 3.
Distribution of R. indica in Venezuela based on collection records ( from 2008 to 2012) [52].

Plant family Species

Apocynaceae Rauvolfia viridis

Arecaceae Adonidia merrillii

Cocos nucifera

Roystonea oleracea

Pritchardia pacifica

Ptychosperma macarthurii

Roystonea regia

Washingtonia sp.

Washingtonia robusta

Phaseolus sp.

Musaceae Musa sp.

Sterculiaceae Sterculia sp.

Strelitziaceae Strelitzia sp.

Table 3.
Plant species onto which Raoiella indica was found in the northern Venezuela ( from [52]).

and one streliziaceous species, indicating that the pest developed and reproduced
only on these plants, while specimens found on weeds were considered spurious
events. Later, the list of host plants increased including 73 species of Arecaceae,
six of Musaceae, five of Heliconiaceae, four of Zingiberaceae, and two each of
Pandanaceae and Strelitziaceae [53].

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Due to the potential impact of R. indica, in 2007, the Brazilian Ministry of

Agriculture added the RPM to the list of quarantine pests so that an extensive sur-
vey was initiated in the state of Roraima, a Brazilian state bordering Venezuela [54].
Only after 2 years, in July 2009, the red palm mite was found in samples of coco-
nut and banana leaves in urban areas of Boa Vista (Roraima) [47]. Despite quaran-
tine efforts, this mite became established in South America inasmuch as in 2011; it
was reported in the urban areas of Manaus occurring not only on coconut plants but
also on dwarf royal palm (Veitchia merrillii (Becc.) H. E. Moore) and fishtail palm
tree (Caryota mitis Lour) [55]. Recently, in May 2015, the RPM was found in the
urban area of Dracena (state of São Paulo), about 2300 km southeast of Manaus, on
several arecaceous plants such as C. nucifera, Phoenix roebelenii O’Brien, and Rhapis
excelsa (Thunb.) A. Henry [54].
Discovery of R. indica in several countries in South America suggests that this
region exhibits climate conditions, which, along with the wide diversity of host
plant species, stimulate its development, representing an imminent threat to the
economy of those countries where coconut palm and banana are grown as crops of
economic importance.

4. Conclusions

Biological invasions have increased greatly in the last century due to the
intensification in international trade, thus representing one of the most relevant
threats for biodiversity in agroecosystems. Over several decades, scientists are more
interested in phytophagous mites since some noneconomic species have become
severe pests on many crops due to wrong pest management strategies. Thus,
phytophagous mites from the Neotropical region such as the cassava green mite, the
coconut mite, and the tomato spider mite have been introduced in the Old World.
As expected, some mite species have also been introduced in the Neotropical region,
i.e., S. spinki, S. hindustanicus, and R. indica with remarkable economic impact on
agriculture. These biological invasions in the New World require the participation
of several public institutions (Universities, Government Agricultural Institutions)
and farmers in order to mitigate the current impact on production of rice, citrus,
coconut, and Musaceous crops. Most of the research has been focused on geograph-
ical distribution, host plant range, and natural enemies associated, but few studies
have dealt with management strategies.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Dirección de Investigación y Desarrollo

(DIDE) of Universidad Técnica de Ambato and the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience
International (CABI) for the financial support to this research.

Conflict of interest

The authors have declared no conflict of interests.

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Pests Control and Acarology

Author details

Carlos Vásquez1* and Yelitza Colmenárez2

1 Faculty of Agronomy Sciences, Technical University of Ambato, Ambato, Ecuador

2 CABI Brazil, UNESP- Fazenda Experimental Lageado, Fundação de Estudos e

Pesquisas Agrícolas e Florestais, Botucatu-São Paulo, Brazil

*Address all correspondence to: [Link]@[Link]

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link]
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

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Invasive Mite Species in the Americas: Bioecology and Impact
DOI: [Link]

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Chapter 8

Biology and Ecology of Some

Predaceous and Herbivorous Mites
Important from the Agricultural
Perception
Muhammad Sarwar

Abstract

Mites are numerous species of minute arthropods, members of class Arachnida

subclass Acari or Acarina and pests of many economic prominence living in a wide
range of habitats. Mites are predators and parasites, performing crucial means of
biological control, essential herbivores and detritivores, acting fungivorous and
saprophytic, vectors of diseases, and play vital role in soil formation. These live
on plants and animals, in the depths of ocean, in soil and fresh or brackish water,
in lungs of birds and animals, in stored grains and stored products, on leaves of
rainforest, and in human clothes and bedding. In spite of magnificent diversity of
predaceous, phytophagous and granary mites found on plants and stored grains,
these are often overlooked, and even skilled zoologists may be unaware of their
importance. This chapter aims to provide an updated analysis of their biology, life
history, reproduction and ecology to fill gap in our understanding of these fascinat-
ing creatures for pests controlling.

Keywords: arthropod, Acari, mite, pest, Phytoseiidae, control

1. Introduction

Mite complex is worldwide in its distribution in all regions of globe and more
prominent in tropical a well as subtropical climates. Mites can be either inflicting
damage to humans and animals [1, 2], or pestilent that feed on plants [3] and stored
commodities [4–23], otherwise predacious which are the carnivorous of leaf-
feeding mites and other pests [24]. All harmful types of mites are able to devastate
agricultural crops, fruits and vegetables [25, 26]. During the previous few decades,
owing to increasing concerns over health, environment and pest resistance risks
accompanying with chemical control, and the use of alternate pest management
strategies has received considerable attention [27, 28]. In this context, the uses of
generalist predators that can perform as a broad spectrum fighters against pests
have been greatly encouraged [29–31].
Currently, mites belonging to the family Phytoseiidae (Arachnida:
Mesostigmata) are economically important predators of some phytophagous mites
and insects in greenhouses or field crops. Amongst others predators, mass reared
phytoseiid mites are commercially available and used, against spider mites, thrips

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and whiteflies infestations on plants. Phytoseiid mites use odors (kairomones)

associated with mite-infested plants to locate their prey or when predators contact
spider mite webbing, these intensify their search for prey and may identify prey
eggs and distinguish these from non-prey objects. The existence of a water-soluble
feeding stimulant on prey eggs as well is postulated [32].
Predator mites which fit to the family Phytoseiidae, are categorized by long legs,
with the front pair pointing frontward and comparatively have few hairs (<20 pairs)
on their back. The color of mites can differ from deep red to pale yellow liable to the
prey items eaten. Mites that feed on whiteflies and thrips are commonly pale yellow to
pale tan. Phytoseiid mites have five life stages in life cycle like egg, larva, protonymph,
deutonymph and adult. Most mites of this family are free-living predators in the
deutonymphal and adult stages on a variety of arthropods in plants or crops. This
chapter presents broad-spectrum ideas of the findings in research focusing on rhetori-
cal aspects of biology and ecology of some predacious as well as harmful mites with
particular reference to their possible role in biological control [33, 34].

2. Beneficial mites

Beneficial mites are excellent biological control agents and have been used in
controlling of tiny mite pests and insect pests that cause a serious damage to many
economically important crops.

2.1 Neoseiulus (Amblyseius) cucumeris (Oudemans)

Cucumeris predatory mite Neoseiulus (= Amblyseius) cucumeris (Oudemans)

has a worldwide distribution because of its natural occurrence and commercial
use in various parts of the ecosphere. Cucumeris is soft-bodied and translucent
pale brown to sometimes tan-colored depending on the food consumed. These
can be distinguished from most pest mites by their shape and mobility (Figure 1).
Cucumeris moves rapidly along the underside of leaves and in flowers of plants.
Adult mite is pear-shaped and may range between 0.5 and 1.0 mm in length with
long legs. Gnathosoma corniculi is slightly convergent distally, dorsal shield
strongly reticulate with 17 pairs of setae, and sternal shield smooth with few lateral
striae, three pairs of setae and two pairs of lyrifissures. Eggs are laid on the leaf
surface, on domatia or on hairs (trichomes) along the midrib on the underside of
leaves and occasionally on petiole hairs. The eggs are round, translucent white and
measure 0.14 mm in diameter. Females lay 1–3 eggs per day for an average of 35 eggs
over their lifetime. The eggs hatch in about 3 days later [35].

Figure 1.
Neoseiulus cucumeris.

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Cucumeris populations have somewhat more females than males (64% females).
Mite develops through one larval stage and two nymphal stages (protonymph and
deutonymph) before becoming adults. The non-feeding larvae emerge from eggs in
about 3 days and molt into protonymphs 2 days later. The two nymphal stages last
for 7–10 days before developing into adults. Adults live for up to 30 days and eat an
average of 1 thrips/day. Cucumeris has a life cycle of 10–12 days at 20°C, while develop-
ment time at 75°F is 6–9 days and development takes from 8 to 11 days (at 20–25°C).
Cucumeris prefers environment with >65% relative humidity (R. H.), but eggs can
survive at as low as 40% R. H. Greenhouse N. cucumeris is not susceptible to diapause,
however, less effective above 28°C. Optimum temperature range for Cucumeris mites
is 66–80°F with humidity between 65 and 75%. The lowest developmental time of the
predator from neonate larva to adult emergence (7.50 days), the highest immature
survivorship (99%), higher fecundity (3.85 eggs/female/day), long oviposition period
(26.57 days), and the highest adult female’s life span (39 days) have been observed
when offered maize pollens along with Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank) as prey [36].
For studying food habits of predatory mite N. cucumeris, well known pests,
stored food mite T. putrescentiae, red spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch and
western flower thrips Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), have been used as
prey. Significant differences have been observed for the types of prey diet used, T.
putrescentiae proved the most suitable prey closely followed by T. urticae and then
F. occidentalis diet, wherein, duration of the developmental stages of the predatory
mites noted 7.6, 7.7 and 8.5 days, respectively [37].
Cucumeris is an aggressive predator of several soft-bodied pests and generally
microclimates inside the greenhouse crop seem to be significant for their existence.
Cucumeris feeds on little (first and second instar) thrips on foliage and flowers, and
does not nourish on big larvae or adult thrips. The prime targets of Cucumeris are
thrips species including western flower thrips (F. occidentalis), onion thrips (Thrips
tabaci Lind.), plague thrips (Thrips imaginis Bagnall), melon thrips (Thrips palmi
Karny), common blossom thrips (Frankliniella schultzei Trybom) and chilli thrips
(Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood) [38]. These are known to feed on the immature stages
of a variety of plant damaging mites, for instance, broad mite (Polyphagotarsonemus
latus Banks), cyclamen or strawberry mite (Phytonemus pallidus Banks), spider
mites, tomato russet mite and mites of the genus Schizotetranychus in ornamental,
fruit and market garden crops. Cucumeris is also used effectively for control of
thrips in stored red salad onions [39, 40].
Cucumeris is an appropriate enemy for many tiny pests of greenhouse crops,
and both outdoor and indoor strawberry crop. This is able to live on pollen in
the absence of pest and as a result might be used precautionary in crops such as
strawberries or capsicums that produce pollen. Cucumeris has been efficaciously
used for thrips control in capsicums, cucumbers, berry fruits and eggplants as
well as in ornamental crops such as rose and gerbera, and other potted plants. In
circumstances having very huge thrips pressure, Cucumeris ought to be always
used in combination with the predatory pirate bug Orius tantillus (Motschulsky).
Cucumeris is not efficient control agent on geraniums or tomatoes owing to leaf
structure and toxic plant exudates [41].
In recent years, various delivery systems (formulations) of N. cucumeris, such
as buckets (100,000 mites) or bottle (50,000 mites) containers are offered for
direct release in greenhouse, field and nursery operations. Both systems comprise
of predatory mites and bran mites T. putrescentiae (a temporary food source of the
predatory mite) mixed with bran or vermiculite. Cucumeris is supplied from the
insectary at approximately 100,000 predators per liter of substrate. Each liter of
insectary material should cover 600–2500 m2 of greenhouse area (4–16 L/ha). For
strawberries, release is done at the rate of 2 L/10,000 plants at initial flowering in

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spring and yet again 4–6 weeks later. Wherever thrips are high, a third release of
predator can be desirable. In greenhouse crops, Cucumeris must be released at a rate
of 50–200 predators/m2 of cropping area (4–16 L/ha) subjected to thrips density. In
crops with little thrips density and which have enough pollen, for instance, capsi-
cums (once flowering has started), the lesser amount can be used, however must
be used in two doses about 14 days apart to make certain even dispersal through the
crop. Sprinkle 200 mL of mixture per ton of onions over the top of the onions once
stored into bins prior to storage [42].

2.2 Neoseiulus (= Amblyseius) fallacis (Garman)

Mite Neoseiulus (= Amblyseius) f$%lacis (Garman) is an excellent general preda-

tor for control of many different types of mites in warm and moderately humid
environments. Particularly, it targets two-spotted spider mite (T. urticae), broad
mite, hemp russet mite, European red mite (Panonychus ulmi Koch), spruce spider
mite (Oligonychus ununguis Jacobi), southern red mite (Oligonychus ilicis McGregor),
bamboo mite (Schizotetranychus celarius Banks), cyclamen mite, other small arthro-
pods and is also able to feed on an array of pests, especially their eggs on roses and
vegetable crops. Fallacis can also be effective in orchards as it tolerates higher tem-
peratures and lower humidities. For the reason that N. fallacis is a hungry user of
mites and owing to its density rises rapidly relatively to its prey, it is able to surpass
an intensifying pest populations. Additionally, it progresses into the mature stage in
nearly one third the time needed by other mite predators. Moreover, this may also
feed on pollen and can survive for periods having pollen alone, which makes it an
excellent preventative natural enemy [43].
Adults of N. fallacis are about 0.5 mm long, with pear-shaped bodies. These can
vary in color from cream to orange-beige, shiny and semi-transparent, with long
legs (Figure 2). The immature stages are generally a semi-transparent cream color
and difficult to see without a microscope. The eggs are oval, almost transparent,
and 0.33 mm in diameter (double than size of a two-spotted spider mite egg). Adult
females lay 1–5 eggs per day along the ribs on the undersides of leaves and a total
of 26–60 eggs over their lifetime (which could be between 14 and 62 days) are laid.
The eggs hatch in 2–3 days and newly hatched predators do not eat, but later stages
and adults feed on all stages of prey. Generally, female A. fallacis can eat 2–16 spider
mites per day. Of the five N. fallacis life stages, only the first nymphal stage is six
legged, while all other post-egg stages have eight legs [44, 45].

Figure 2.
Neoseiulus fallacis.

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Growth from egg to adult takes place in 7–9 days at 70°F, 3 days at 85°F and at
78°F a fourfold rise in numbers can occur within 4 days. Under optimum conditions
in the field, densities may increase from 10 predators per 100 leaves to 200–500
predators per 100 leaves in just 2 weeks. Adult mated females enter diapause in
response to the short days in the fall (<14 hours of daylight) in plant crevices or
other protected areas. As a result, these stop reproducing and move into sheltered
areas, such as under bark or ground cover. But, these do not enter diapause in green-
houses or interior plantscapes if the temperature is 64°F (18°C) or above. These
emerge as early as bloom, but in reduced numbers due to heavy winter mortality.
Fallacis increases in number rapidly and adults become numerous by July or August,
and on an average 40–60 eggs are laid. Warmer or cooler conditions accelerate or
slow down reproduction/feeding, respectively, and these live about 20 days [46, 47].
Mite predator N. fallacis works extremely well to control mite infestations in green-
houses, so, it is suggested for use in tomatoes, roses and other vegetable crops. On field
crops, before introducing N. fallacis, monitoring and counting should be done to deter-
mine numbers of spider mites and existing predators. Inoculate only those fields having
spider mite populations of 0.3 mites per leaf and higher [48]. Spread N. fallacis evenly
throughout the field using 150–200 release points per hectare (60–80 per acre), con-
centrating extra predators near to higher mite counts. For new strawberries and mint
or raspberries and currants plantings, release 25,000 predators per hectare (10,000 per
acre) as soon as possible after planting or 10 days after applying insecticides to control
aphids, and on producing fields, release 17,000 per hectare (7000 per acre).

2.3 Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot

Predator mite Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, is a specific predator

of web-spinning spider mites like two spotted spider mite. Indeed, P. persimilis
nourishes, breeds, and completes growth merely on mites in the subfamily
Tetranychinae, even though it too feeds on young thrips and may be cannibalistic
at what time spider mite prey is absent [49]. This species is approximately 0.5 mm
long, fast moving, orange to bright reddish orange in color, has a teardrop-shaped
body, long legs and is slightly larger than its prey (Figure 3). Adult females are
reddish, pear-shaped and active at room temperature. Immatures and males are
smaller and lighter in color. The life cycle of P. persimilis has been determined under
a diurnal temperature cycle of 58–83°F. Eggs are oval, oblong and approximately
twice as large as the pest mite eggs and hatch in 2–3 days. The adult female may lay
up to 60 eggs during its 50 day-long lifetime at 17–27°C. The adult female, after a
pre-ovipositional (the time between emergence from the egg to the deposition of
the first egg) period of 3.0 days, laid an average of 2–4 eggs per day for 22.3 days.
The average duration of incubation for both males and females is 3.1 ± 0.2 days [50].

Figure 3.
Phytoseiulus persimilis.

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Larvae do not attempt to feed and remain inactive near the old egg shell.
Although the larval stage does not feed, yet the subsequent nymphs and adults feed
on all stages of prey. Both males and females remained in the larval stage for an
average of 1.0 ± 0.1 days. Immatures are normally pale salmon in color. The male
and female protonymphal stages lasted 1.7 and 1.6 days, respectively. During this
time both males and females ate an average of 4–4 eggs of T. urticae. The eight-
legged final nymphal stage (deutonymphal stage) remained active throughout the
period. Both males and females remained an average of 1.7 ± 0.1 days in this stage,
and during that time the deutonymphs ate 6.0 eggs. Both males and females start to
forage just about instantaneously afterward these have molted. Afterwards nourish-
ing, the females become very active and spend plentiful of its time running around
the cell enclosure. Simply, when a male is faced and mating has taken place then the
female settles down. Usually 6–12 hours is elapsed between the time of molting and
the time of mating. The duration of mating is erratic, taking from 5 minutes to sev-
eral hours. The duration of the ovipositional period (period during which eggs are
deposited) ranged from 6 to 39 days, with an average of 22.3 days. The maximum
number of eggs laid by any female in a day is six. During the pre-ovipositional and
ovipositional periods, the females consumed 7.3 and 14.3 eggs of T. urticae, respec-
tively. After ceasing to oviposit, the females lived an average of 7.1 days during
which each individual consumed 3.9 eggs per day. Each sex ate an average of 10.5
eggs during entire development. Total developmental time for males is 7.5 days and
for females 7 days. However, total generation time from egg to adult ranges from
25.2 days at 15°C (59°F) to 5.0 days at 30°C (86°F) [51–53].
Due to its tropical origin, P. persimilis does not have a diapause stage and is active
year-round in enclosed habitats such as interior plantscapes and greenhouses.
Because this mite is much efficient hunter and disperser, it can cause effective
extinction of its spider mite prey. Persimilis predaceous mite, is one of the pillars
of greenhouse integrated pest management programs for control of spider mites on
vegetables and ornamentals [54, 55].

2.4 Neoseiulus (= Amblyseius) californicus (McGregor)

Predaceous mite Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) is a predator, which primar-

ily attacks spider mites, but also feeds more generally on many leaf inhabiting
mites or other small insects and pollen. It is tolerant and active at both high and low
temperatures, and low humidity, but prefers warm to hot conditions where it can
reproduce very quickly.
Mite N. californicus is pear-shaped, buff to tan in color and <1 mm long. It is
nearly related in look to N. cucumeris. Males are greatly smaller and darker brown
than females, with females commonly more abundant (Figure 4). The female lays
ovate, pure white eggs singly or in clusters on underside of leaf, frequently on leaf
hairs or else at the junction of veins. The laid eggs are bigger than those of spider
mites. These hatch 1–2 days afterward and pass through a 6-legged larval and two
8-legged nymphal stages to become mature. The life-cycle from egg to adult is tem-
perature reliant, however under greenhouse situations it varies from 4 to 10 days.
The adult females live about 20 days and lay three eggs per day, commencing after
2–3 days. Pollen is its maintenance food only, however this can helpful for establish-
ment and persistence in the crop at what time pests are short. In the deficiency of
food, predator scatters over the crop and on the ground examining for new prey,
however a lot of will halt in crop and wait for the appearance of new prey [56, 57].
Predator N. californicus is a promising agent for successful T. urticae (two-
spotted spider mite, red spider mite) control through conservation techniques in
strawberry; Panonychus citri McGregor (citrus red mite); Tarsonemus pallidus Banks

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Figure 4.
Neoseiulus californicus.

(cyclamen mite, strawberry mite); P. latus (broad mite, yellow tea mite, citrus
silver mite); &aoiella indica Hirst (red palm mite); Brevipalpus spp.; Panonychus
ulmi (European red mite, fruit tree red spider mite); Tetranychus cinnabarinus
(Boisduval) (carmine spider mite, cotton red spider mite) in flowering crops;
fruit-bearing vegetables; ornamentals (protected); spice crops; berries; and grapes.
Promoting preservation of N. californicus can furthermore be done on an extensive
range of crops. Appropriate crops comprise ornamentals (gerbera, chrysanthe-
mum, rose), vegetables (capsicum, eggplant, cucumber) and herbs. It is frequently
used in greenhouse crops production, however, can as well be used in the field,
mostly fruit crops like as pome, melons and stone fruits [58].
Californicus works in the superlative form while used preventatively, or else
when spider mites are initially observed in the crop. It establishes the best early in
the crop and when is permitted to build up prior to spider mites found. Predator P.
persimilis ought to be used for quicker knockdown of spider mites for the period of
modest temperature and high humidity circumstances, however wherever situa-
tions are identified to be hot or dry later in the year, it is recommended to discharge
and settle the species early in the crop cycle. If spider mite numbers are already
high, it is desirable the usage of a non-disruptive miticide to lower the population
prior to release or after establishment for helping in pest control. Residual broad
spectrum insecticides should not be used for at least 4 weeks prior to predator
release. Use N. cucumeris preferentially for broad and cyclamen mites, though N.
californicus will assist in pest control and may be more effective at higher tempera-
tures [59, 60].
Californicus are primarily sent in a loose, vermiculite-based medium and the
predator should be distributed evenly through the crop on foliage, with additional
material at ends of rows and in hotter areas prone to spider mites. Rates will vary
depending on the crop and infestation level, however, the subsequent rates have
been determined as preventative @ 25/m2 (2.5 L/ha) releasing 2 weeks apart for 2–3
releases, and after spider mite detection 100–200/m2 (10 L/ha) weekly for at least
three applications.

2.5 Swirski mite Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot)

The species Amblyseius (Typhlodromips) swirskii (Athias-Henriot) is considered

a generalist predator and readily consumes small soft-bodied arthropod pest spe-
cies as well as pollen or plant exudates. It can be found on various crops including
apples, apricot, citrus, vegetables and cotton. It has attracted substantial interest as
a biological control agent of mites, thrips and whiteflies in greenhouses and nursery

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crops. This species is documented to feed and reproduce on a wide range of prey from
several orders, including thrips (western flower, onion, melon and chili), whiteflies
(greenhouse and silverleaf) [61], and plant feeding mites (spider, broad and eriophy-
oid) [62, 63]. It mainly feeds on the immature stages of thrips and whitefly, although
it also attacks the adult stages of smaller pest species. A recent study documented A.
swirskii feeding and probably reproducing on immature Asian citrus psyllids. Adult
predatory mites search for their prey or wait for it to pass by and then suck it dry [64].
Adults are pear-shaped, 0.5 mm in length with an unsegmented body and four
pairs of long legs, and males may be slightly smaller than females (Figure 5). The
eggs are round and transparent white and measure approximately 0.15 mm in diam-
eter. These mites lay their eggs on leaf hairs (trichomes) and along the veins on the
inner surface of leaves mainly at the intersection of main and lateral ribs. Females
prefer to lay eggs on leaf hairs on the underside of plant leaves near plant domatia
(small hairy tufts or pockets found on the lower surface of some leaves), which may
be an adaptation to avoid egg from predators. The eggs hatch in about 3 days later.
Larvae are pale white to nearly transparent in color and only have three pairs of legs.
Mobile stages are beige-pink, droplet shaped and ‘pushed down’ position on short
legs. The protonymph (second stage) and deutonymph (third stage) have four pairs
of legs and are darker than the larvae. All stages can be found in the corner of main
vein and lateral veins, and in the flowers [65, 66].
In addition to arthropod prey, A. swirskii can survive and reproduce on various
pollens and gain nutrition from plant nectars, which may allow them to persist dur-
ing periods of low pest density and improve their effectiveness as biological control
agents. Development of A. swirskii is influenced by type of food (prey, pollen and
plant exudates) as well as availability of food and environmental conditions. Mites
develop between 18 and 36°C and at 60% relative humidity [67]. By feeding on prey,
the egg to adult development period at 25°C is around 5 days [68]. Mite A. swirskii
feeding on live prey develops faster and lays more eggs when compared with pollen-
feeding A. swirskii, for example, females laid 26 and 38 eggs on pollen and mite diets,
respectively. When not actively hunting, A. swirskii is typically found on the under-
side of leaves along the midrib or in other protected locations such as domatia [69].
Species A. swirskii is commonly used to control whitefly and thrips in green-
house vegetables (especially cucumber, pepper and eggplant) and some ornamental
crops, and other pests on citrus and other subtropical crops. The mites are released
directly in the crops in bran or vermiculite carriers sprinkled on the leaves or
substrates, or may be broadcasted via air blast or other automated distribution
technique. The recommended release rates are typically between 25 and 100 mites
per m2 depending on pest species, pest density and type of crop [70, 71].

Figure 5.
Amblyseius swirskii.

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2.6 Amblyseius (Neoseiulus) barkeri (Hughes)

The predatory mite Amblyseius barkeri (Hughes) [= A. mckenziei Schuster and

Pritchard] has played important roles in biological controls of thrips in glasshouses
with cucumber and cabbage, and also feeds on tetranychid, tarsonemid and eri-
ophyid mites, and pollen of various plants. In appearance, adults species of pre-
daceous mites A. barkeri are small and reddish-brown in color (Figure 6). Mobile
stages are pale-pink, droplet shaped and have ‘pushed down position’ on short legs.
Mite A. barkeri in the field is indistinguishable from N. cucumeris and N. califor-
nicus. It is smaller than N. cucumeris and is therefore better suited as a predator for
broad mites, which often live in tight and small crevices [72].
The eggs are oval, transparent white and around 0.15 mm in diameter. All stages
can be mainly found in the corner of main vein and lateral veins, and in the flowers.
When fed on T. tabaci, at 25°C, A. barkeri exhibited a mean time of 2.2, 0.8 and
3.2 days for the egg, larval and nymphal phases, with mortalities at 1.0, 1.0 and
3.1%, correspondingly. Females denoted 63% of the total population and needed
several copulations for optimum fecundity. The oviposition time is 20.3 days and
the mean oviposition rate 2.3 eggs per day, while the intrinsic rate of increase is 0.22
per day. The estimated life span is 29.6 days for male and 27.4 days for female. Both
male and female A. barkeri devoured 3.3 nymphs of thrips per day (average value
for the feeding stages), whereas the larva does not consume diet. Without thrips
diet, A. barkeri is capable of consuming adults broad mite P. latus, two-spotted
spider mite T. urticae and their eggs, and pollen of many plants. Cannibalism has
been detected within A. barkeri at what time food is deficient [73, 74].
The predacious mite A. barkeri as well accomplished its life cycle when fed on
eriophyid mite Eriophyes dioscoridis Soliman and Abou-Awad and tetranychid mite
T. urticae. The growth is not accomplished while the phytoseiid mite fed on pollen
grains of Phoenix dactylifera (L.), and Ricinus communis (L.), as an alternative food
material. The adult female everyday devoured 17 and 102 individuals of T. urticae
and E. dioscoridis, respectively. The day-to-day reproduction rate is 1.3 eggs per day
after nourished on eriophyid mites, whereas the number of eggs laid improved (1.9
eggs per day) while fed on tetranychid mites [75].
It is used against various thrips species and broad mite as well as other tarso-
nemid mites in greenhouses and indoor plantscapes. It works well on P. pallidus
(cyclamen mite) and P. latus mites (broad mite, yellow tea mite and citrus silver
mite). Mites pierce the instars of their prey and suck out the internal organs to
eat, but do not eat adults. It is found as wild populations on cut flowers (orchids,

Figure 6.
Amblyseius barkeri.

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Pests Control and Acarology

bromeliads and roses), on vegetable crops (capsicum) and strawberry. Adult

predatory mites and nymphs suck young thrips larvae and multiple stages of
broad mite. Predator can also eat pollen of peppers and eggplant and thus build its
population in these crops [34].

2.7 Amblyseius andersoni (Chant)

Mite species Amblyseius (Typhlodromips) andersoni (Chant), is a polyphage, and

the predator is able to consume alternative food sources such as young larvae of
thrips, flower pollen, fungi and the sugary excretions of other pests. This predatory
mite is ideal for vegetables, hardy ornamentals and fruit crops, for controlling red
or two-spotted spider mite, fruit-tree red spider mite, and russet mites. An adult
predatory mite has light beige color and a size of 0.5–1 mm long (Figure 7). The
female of the mite lays several eggs every day on the underside of a leaf near its
veins. Adult female mites lay eggs singly onto leaf hairs and approximately 30–35
eggs are laid during the whole life cycle, and these hatch after 2–3 days to give rise
larvae. Young larvae have six legs, while the next two nymph stages have eight legs
(like an adult). The complete transformation from an egg to an adult ordinarily
takes 8–11 days at 68–77°F (20–25°C). Entirely, the mobile stages are predatory in
nature, and these will forage on adults, juveniles and eggs of spider mites. As per
temperatures decline, and days turn out to be smaller, in initial autumn, mites will
come into a diapause so these can magnificently persist winter situations. Mites are
described to become active once more as early as January, however this is influenced
by food and temperatures accessibility. The healthy adult of A. andersoni lives for
about 3 weeks and consumes various food sources [76, 77].
Predatory mite A. andersoni is a predator that forages on several kinds of tiny
arthropods prey and pollen. It is broadly described as a predator of spider mites
on fruit crops such as grapes, raspberries, peaches and apples, and many conifers.
This predatory mite feeds on numerous diverse pest mites such as gall mite, russet
mite and spider mite. Its foremost target pests are spider mites Tetranychus spp., (T.
urticae and T. cinnabarinus), broad mite and cyclamen mite (P. latus and P. pallidus),
European (or citrus) red mite (Panonychus spp.), broad mites and Eriophyid mites
including the tomato rust (or russet) mite Aculops lycopersici Massee (Eriophyidae).
These mites can also survive on young larvae of thrips, flower pollen, sugary excre-
tions from pests and fungi, and gall midges, so, these can be introduced before the
prey is present. These feed on and control all stages of phytophagous mites with
all mobile life stages of A. andersoni to forage on prey. It is an excellent choice for
pre-emergent control of pest infestations because of their varied diet and ability

Figure 7.
Amblyseius andersoni.

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to survive in cooler temperatures. These have a wide temperature tolerance of

43–104°F that makes A. andersoni an easy choice for preventative mite control in
commercial garden [78, 79].
This predator works well on both inside protected crops and outside in ornamen-
tal crops, fruit trees, horticulture, nurseries and seedbeds. The invasion of the preda-
tor is realized under the low mass and the average density of 0.25–1 individual per
1 m2of pest population in amounts. Based on the focuses of pest populations, the rate
of predator application is increased. This predatory mite is suitable for biologically
controlling of some mites. For scouting, if some agile-looking mites are seen running
quickly across the leaf ’s undersurface, these are probably predators. One predatory
mite per every 6 feet of crop row or 2–3 mites per 10–11 square feet are used. For best
results, apply the A. andersoni when pest mite numbers are low or use before pest
populations have reached high levels. The predatory mites will then be able to feed on
small colonies of pest mites and prevent these from growing and causing major dam-
age. Predatory mite is intended as a preventative treatment @ 1 per m2 (curative, light
@ 2–3 per m2 at 5–7 days interval with three frequencies and curative, heavy @ 3–5
per m2 at 5–7 days interval with three frequencies). Apply as a preventative treatment
or to active mite infestations in vegetable crops, strawberries, raspberries and fruit
trees, and it might be a stronger competitor under low humidity conditions [80, 81].
High numbers of this mite overwinter in the ground litter in apple orchards and by
transferring such ground litter to young orchards, the population density has been
found to be significantly increased in the released compared to control fields [82].

2.8 Neoseiulus (= Amblyseius) pseudolongispinosus (Xin, Liang and Ke)

Mite Neoseiulus (= Amblyseius) pseudolongispinosus (Xin, Liang and Ke) [syn-

onym Amblyseius (Neoseiulus) womersleyi Schicha], is considered as the best native
predator of spider mites in China. Among the stages of predator, a high predation
rate has been observed in adult that showed more preference towards the eggs
and nymphs of T. urticae [83] as well as T. cinnabarinus [84]. It is very similar to
Neoseiulus longispinosus (Evans), but dorsal seta S-5 is long (as long as S-4) and
barbed in N. pseudolongispinosus (Figure 8), while short (much shorter than S-4)
and smooth in N. longispinosus. The pattern of mating behavior of N. pseudolon-
gispinosus summaries that there is a period of male’s climbing on the dorsum of
the female. A sex attractant produced by female deutonymphs probably played
a role only when the sexes physically encounter one another. The average time
of a full mating lasted for l83 minutes. Most male A. pseudolongispinosus insemi-
nated females with only one endospermatophore transferred to only one of the
female spermathecae in single mating. The egg production and oviposition period
increased with the duration of copulation. The egg production in single mating
that lasted for the whole duration is only half of that in natural mating condition.
The ratio of female offspring increased with the duration of copulation and then
decreased slightly after 120 minutes [85–87].
Research on the biology of predator N. pseudolongispinosus has been carried out
by usage of T. putrescentiae, reared on flour of soybean (Glycine max L.), wheat
(Triticum aestivum L.), and maize (Zea mays L.), as hosts. When N. pseudolongispi-
nosus nourished on T. putrescentiae reared on diverse foods, it could breed ordinarily
and accomplished its growth as magnificently as T. putrescentiae. Mean period of
egg and nymph development of N. pseudolongispinosus continued fastest statistically
by means of T. aestivum fed T. putrescentiae in comparisons with G. max and Z. mays
diets. Average overall longevities of male (20.8, 16.8, and 13.1 days) and the female
(29.4, 25.8 and 17.7 days) have been considerably lengthier on T. aestivum than on
G. max and Z. mays diets, correspondingly. Average fecundity of female adults

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Figure 8.
Neoseiulus pseudolongispinosus.

amplified too on T. aestivum daily (3.5 per day), but reduced (2.8 and 1.2 per day)
with Z. mays and G. max, whereas, the total growing time observed 10.1, 11.8 and
12.9 days, correspondingly. A calculation of macronutrients in wheat, soybean and
maize flours displayed that wheat has additional ash and carbohydrate, and on the
other hand decreased fat and protein contents, as a result, it evidenced as a promi-
nent compound to support greater mite densities [88].
The effectiveness of hunter N. pseudolongispinosus as a possible biocontrol means
of webworm Loxostege sticticalis L., has been investigated. When eggs food offered,
total life cycle of predator has been accomplished on an average of 12.75 days for
female or male. An average pre-oviposition time of 4.28 days noted in female, ovi-
position time lasted for 8.71 days, and the mean number of 1.42 eggs day−1 female−1
have been observed [89].
A fenvalerate-resistant strain of N. pseudolongispinosus has been selected and
evaluated for level of resistance. After 18 selection cycles, the LC50 value is 65 times
higher than in wild-type strain. Genomic task showed that the resistance aspect
is organized by a distinct and partly prevailing gene. The resistant strain that has
an identical intrinsic rate of upsurge as the wild-type strain, might be a valuable
biological control mediator of spider mites in the system of an integrated pest
management (IPM) [90].
Among the effects of different developmental stages of two spider mite species,
for instance, T. urticae and T. cinnabarinus, predatory mite A. pseudolongispinosus
preferred for egg followed by nymph, while larva observed the least preferred stage.
Fecundity of female fed on egg, nymph or all developmental stages has been noted
significantly higher than that on larva [91]. Experiments have been carried out to
observe fitness and effectiveness of Phytoseiid mites as predators of carmine spider
mite T. cinnabarinus, greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood)
and western flower thrips F. occidentalis, under greenhouse conditions in cucumber
(Cucumis sativus L.), crop. For this trial, predatory mites Euseius utilis (Liang and
Ke), Euseius finlandicus (Oudemans), Euseius castaneae (Wang and Xu) and N. pseu-
dolongispinosus have been examined for their possibility as biological control agents
in treated as well as untreated control. Among all predators, N. pseudolongispinosus
has proved the most proficient and steadfast predator in controlling thrips and
whitefly populations, contrary to E. finlandicus that proved better in reducing
spider mite density in treated crop [92].

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2.9 Cheyletus eruditus (Schrank)

Predatory mite Cheyletus eruditus (Schrank) (Acari: Cheyletidae), generally

exists in bulk foodstuff storages, for instance, within warehouses. It is likewise
frequently establishes in animal feedstuff, mammal and bird nests, house dust
and poultry litter. The food of C. eruditus includes a diversity of mites and insects.
Altogether, its active life stages in the absence of other prey, are cannibalistic, thus it
is a predatory mite that may be used to control storage mites. It is a translucent, pale
yellow in color and the male mite is slightly smaller than the female. Its characters
state to categorize it as a member of the family Cheyletidae, are the occurrence of
a claw on the palp tibia (forming a thumb-claw process with the tarsus) and a big
gnathosoma that links the body anteriorly (rather than in the more usual slightly
anteroventral position) (Figure 9). The two smooth curved setae and two comb-like
setae on the palp tarsus are analytical characteristics of the genus Cheyletus [93].
The average adult’s body length of C. eruditus (not including the mouthparts) is
approximately 500 micrometers (0.5 mm) for the female (range 440–630 microm-
eters). The homeomorphic male is smaller, with a range of 280–320 micrometers.
The heteromorphic form is about 400 micrometers long. Specific male characters
are, the posterior margin of the body is more narrowly rounded than in the female,
propodosomal shield is wider than in female, and gnathosoma is proportionally
broader and more heavily sclerotized than in females [94].
Eggs are laid in clusters and the eggs have a gluey surface, even though these are
not very definitely fixed down, but are lightly bound together with silky strands.
Development and fecundity are affected by prey type and environmental situations.
Per female, the total number of eggs laid ranges from about 19 to 317. The time
taken for an egg to develop to an adult within the temperature range of 12–30°C,
decreased with an increasing in temperature. It took 33.8 days at 18.5°C, and at
25°C acquired 15.4 days. At 76% relative humidity and with Lepidoglyphus destructor
Schrank (grocers’ itch mite) as prey, maximum longevity is 107, 67 and 56 days at
18.5, 22 and 25°C, respectively [95].
It is widespread and abundant in grain stores especially those that have signifi-
cant storage mite problems. Maximum accounts of C. eruditus are from stored foods
(commonly whole grains and flour) intended for domesticated animal and human
feeding. Left over densities frequently persist in storing basins and premises after-
ward the substances have been removed. It as well establishes in animal bedding,
nests of mammals and birds, house dust, poultry litter, and occasionally in field
habitats, e.g., soil, haystacks and plant debris. For commercial use, it is reared on
storage mites particularly Acarus siro (Linnaeus), and is the only biological control
agent used to control pest mites in food storage systems, for example, in grain and

Figure 9.
Cheyletus eruditus.

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seed stores. Its target pests are mainly various storage mites including the flour mite
(A. siro)—Astigmata: Acaridae, fodder mite or grocers itch mite (L. destructor)—
Astigmata: Glycyphagidae, and various spider mites [96].
The maximum frequently faced ectoparasite in captive snakes is the hematopha-
gous snake mite (Ophionyssus natricis Gervais). Infested snakes frequently show
laziness, behavioral changes (increased bathing time, rubbing against objects),
pruritus, dysecdysis, crusting dermatitis (sometimes progressing to abscesses), and
anemia and septicemia are special difficulties. In a study to identify the ability of
the predatory mite C. eruditus to control O. natricis, 125 O. natricis mites have been
placed in separate plastic tubes together with the same number of C. eruditus mites.
After 48 hours, the survival rate of snake mites noted 6% compared with 92% in
the control group. With another experiment, 11 infested ball pythons, with an
average of 13 O. trnaicis per snake, have been positioned in isolated cages with 1000
C. eruditus mites + vermiculite. Only an average of two mites per snake persisted in
comparison with 48 per snake in the control group after 15 days [97].
It can be reared in large numbers and this makes it useful in the biocontrol of pest
mites that infest harvested cereal and cereal products. For bulk rearing of the preda-
tor C. eruditus to utilize in an extensive scale biological control of stored food mites,
among several resources confirmed, lettuce seeds performed to be the best sub-
strates for this purpose. The suggested process of bulk rearing elaborated that mite
batches are retained at 25°C and R. H. 75% in paper bags on 100 g of lettuce seeds.
Within 28–35 days, each batch yielded an average of 2100 ± 600 predatory mites
without any additional procedures, if the initial predator-prey ratio is 1:100–1:200.
The batches can either be used directly in infected stores otherwise retained at low
temperature for later use [98]. The results revealed that C. eruditus is a mite predator
with the highest natural performance in the field, indicating that it is the most pre-
adapted species for biocontrol of stored-pest arthropods in grain stores [99].

3. Harmful mites

Although mites are tiny creatures, these could be extremely harmful to cause
great trouble for peoples or in other ways inflicting a variety of problems associated
to plants.

3.1 Spider mites (Order: Acari, Family: Tetranychidae)

Spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae), belong to the superfamily Tetranychoidea

that comprises five families, of which Tetranychidae is the largest. The common
name ‘spider mites’ is so-called because of their ability to produce silken strands as
do spiders, which is used to spin webs under that to reproduce and feed. Conversely,
the silk glands in mites are situated close to mouth and allied with the mouthparts.
From an applied opinion, the silk-producing habit has two vital uses for mites,
firstly, falling from foliage and being adjourned from the host on a silk strand
permits easy spread by wind and convection currents. Secondly, mats or tents of
webbing around the mite colonies provide some degree of protection from natural
enemies and treatments with pesticides.
Spider mites appear as tiny moving dots on their hosts by the naked eye. Spider
mites are established on a wide variety of vascular plants, comprising shrubs, trees
and herbaceous plants, from entirely all over the biosphere. Several horticultural
and agricultural crops are affected by these pests, together with greenhouses and
field crops, extending from low-growing bushes to fruit trees. Generally, spider
mites forage on the lower side of foliage, however will cover the whole leaf surface

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while their densities are extraordinary. These puncture the plant cells and extract the
cell contents. Their nourishing results in tiny clumps of dead cells and a spotted look
of infested foliage. Wilting, leaf distortion, dryness and abscission take place with
extended and high population invasions. Disturbance of photosynthesis results in
plant growth checking and decrease in produce [100, 101]. Two widely distributed
spider mites found on a broad range of plants are mention in the ensuing section.

3.1.1 Two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch

Two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch, feeds on an enormous variety

of plants, including fruit trees, ornamental trees, vegetables, small fruits, shrubs
and many species of weeds. The adults are typically pale green in color and adult
females <0.4 mm lengthy, and in color greenish yellow having two conspicuous dark
spots on either side of the back. As the mite feeds, these spots may become large
enough to cover the body (Figure 10). Coloring and spots can be variable and may
lead to misunderstanding with other mite species. Pest mite T. urticae reproduces
through arrhenotoky, that is, a form of parthenogenesis in which unfertilized eggs
develop into males. Mite overwinters as spotless, orange diapausing female beneath
bark at the bottoms of trees or else in rubbish on the plantation floor. Shortly
prior to bloom, these transfer to renewed shrubbery (particularly vetch and other
legumes) and start nourishing on new green matter. As the climate warms and these
hosts shrivel up, mites will transfer into trees, generally invading the middle portion
initially. Through this time, these will have return to their characteristic green and
spotted summer form and start laying eggs on the underneath of foliage [102, 103].
If a female has mated, the fertilized eggs develop into both male and female
mites, if not mated, the unfertilized eggs develop into males. Eggs are shiny spheres,
clear to pale green in color, pearl-like and about 0.14 mm in diameter. Eggs are laid
singularly, with females depositing 5–6 eggs per day, with a total of 60–100 eggs per
female. Eggs hatch in 3–6 days depending on temperature. Eggs hatch into six-
legged larvae, then progress through protonymph and deutonymph stages before
becoming to adults. Larvae are about the same size as eggs and the only life stage
with six legs (protonymphs, deutonymphs and adults are all eight-legged). The
octopods deutonymph is generally larger than the protonymph, although similar
in color pattern. Larvae and nymphs complete development in 4–9 days depending
on temperature and the females have a pre-oviposition period of 1–2 days. Since
generations overlap, all life stages can usually be found simultaneously. There can
be nine or more generations per year and adults live about 30 days [104–106].

Figure 10.
Tetranychus urticae.

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Generally, the earlier a foliage is injured by mites, the more detrimental the
damage will be to tree health. Midseason injury is less significant, but can combine
with other stresses to cause fruit drop, poor fruit color, or reduced effectiveness of
growth regulating chemicals. Some steps for spider mites controlling are scouting
for the presence of pest, and noting damage and other signs of growing popula-
tions, looking for direct damage and other signs of pest, deciding if and when to
take control action, choosing the best tool or tools to treat spider mites in growing
situation, making spider mite treatments, and applications of biocontrol agents
following the label and producer’s instructions [107, 108].
One of the studies investigated the development, fecundity and population
density of T. urticae on three different species of bean, accordingly, La'()b purpu-
reus L., [Papilionaceae: Leguminosae] has been found to be a superior host plant for
prey species to further culture predator N. pseudolongispinosus [109]. Another study
examined the efficacy of four mite predators such as E. castaneae, E. finlandicus, E.
utilis and N. pseudolongispinosus released for the suppression of spider mite T. urticae
infesting sweet pepper (C. annuum) in greenhouse. When the predatory mites have
been released, their establishment remained successful to control the population of
spider mite [110].

3.1.2 Carmine spider mite Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval)

The carmine spider mite Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval) has the largest
host range of all Tetranychidae species and is undoubtedly of greatest economic
importance. The carmine spider mite has a worldwide distribution and invades
approximately 100 cultured crops and weeds. It is a severe pest on eggplant, beans,
pepper, cucurbits, tomatoes and various other vegetables. It is as well a pest of
papaya, passion fruit and numerous further fruits. This mite also invades several
flowers and ornamental plants such as chrysanthemum, carnation, cymbidium,
marigold, gladiolus, rose and pikake. Nymphs and adults forage mainly on the
undersides of the foliage. The upper surface of the foliage converts to stipple having
the tiny dots, which are the nourishing ruptures. This pest have a habit of feeding
in ‘pockets’ frequently adjacent to midrib and veins. Silk webbing formed by this
mite is typically noticeable on host. The attacked foliage ultimately turn out to be
bleached and discolored, and may drop off. The heaviest damage has been noted
on glasshouse tomatoes, but the species is also frequent on other host plants such as
cucumber, capsicum, aubergine and gerbera [111, 112].
The carmine spider mite is closely related to two-spotted spider mite T. urticae
and it is difficult to distinguish both from each other in their immature stages, but
its adult stage is bright red in color and more commonly found on vegetable crops
than in ornamentals. Adult females are about 0.4–0.5 mm long, reddish and more
or less elliptical (Figure 11). The males are slightly smaller than females and wedge
shaped. These have a black spot on either side of their relatively colorless bodies.
All stages of this mite are present throughput the year and their reproduction is
most favorable when the weather is hot and dry. The adult female may live for up
to 24 days and lays about 200 eggs. These eggs are laid singly on the underside of
the leaf surface or attached to the silken webs spun by the adults. Eggs are spheri-
cal, shiny, straw colored and hatch in 3 days. Young larvae are a little bigger than
the egg, pinkish in color and bear three pairs of legs. This stage lasts for a small
period and the duration may be 1 day. There are two nymphal stages such as the
protonymph and deutonymph. The nymphal stage varies from the larval stage by
being somewhat bigger, having reddish or greenish color with four pairs of leg and
lasts about 4 days. The carmine spider mite normally completes a life cycle from egg
to adult in about 1 week [113].

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Figure 11.
Tetranychus cinnabarinus.

Development times of the carmine spider mite T. cinnabarinus have been evalu-
ated in the laboratory on excised leaf disc of lablab bean Dolichos lablab L., at
30 ± 2°C and 70 ± 5% relative humidity. Total development times from egg to adult
stage have been noted 7.33 ± 0.13 days. The pre-oviposition period, oviposition
period and post-oviposition period noted 0.5 ± 0, 8.05 ± 0.14 and 0.65 ± 0.07 days,
respectively. Fecundity averaged 42.5 ± 1.7 eggs and longevity lasted for
9.2 ± 0.13 days [114].
The major natural predator of the carmine spider mite is a ladybird beetle
Stethorus vagans (Blackburn) (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera), which feeds on all stages
of these mites and in laboratory conditions each individual beetle consumed an
average of 2400 mites [115, 116]. There are a number of predacious mites, such as
Phytoseiulus macropilis (Banks) and several species of predatory thrips that are also
effective on many crops in controlling of carmine spider mites. In orchards, it may
be possible to maintain natural enemy’s populations and use of sulfur to control
mites in the field [117, 118].
In a study, the populations of T. cinnabarinus persisted greater (1.77 and 1.40
per leaf) in Bt than non-Bt varieties subsequent to insecticides usage for the con-
trol of cotton pest complex. The useful mite N. cucumeris persisted as vigorous in
both Bt and non-Bt varieties, however Bt cotton has somewhat greater sums of the
predator than non-Bt cotton (0.58 per leaf and 0.40 per leaf, respectively) to be
used in creating new resistant cotton varieties as a component of an IPM strategy
[119]. Biological control of the mite T. cinnabarinus in an open-field cotton crop
(Gossypium hirsutum L.), by releasing the predatory mite N. pseudolongispinosus
(Phytoseiidae) has been investigated. Field release of the predaceous mite N. pseu-
dolongispinosus to reduce the incidence of T. cinnabarinus at an early growth stage of
cotton is a potentially useful pest management strategy if every plant is treated with
predator [120].

3.2 Mould mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank)

Mould mite or cheese mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank) in the family

Acaridae, is a cosmopolitan species occurring throughout the world in a wide range
of habitats, including foodstuffs, plant and animal materials, grasslands, old hay,

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mushrooms, and the nest of bees and ducks. It is a common pest of stored products,
especially those with a high protein and fat contents including grains, nuts and
seeds, and feeds on the fungi that grow on the foodstuffs [121]. The research found
that T. putrescentiae is a fungivorous storage mite that can grow and flourish well on
dog food. The study demonstrated that the presence of mould positively influences
mites viability and low relative humidity can result in detrimental consequences
for T. putrescentiae [122]. Storage mite colonizes different human-related environ-
ments and feeds on various post-harvest foods. This mite is a pest of many foods
and has been found, in wheat flour, wheat germ, soy flour, inter alia, rye bread,
cheese, white bread, mixtures of wheat, barley and oats, straw stacks in the field,
various fruits (including dried bananas), dried milk, ham, and decaying animal
and vegetable matters [123]. Mites directly endanger human health due to allergenic
contamination of food, are vectors of toxicogenic fungi and thus indirectly con-
tribute to contaminate food and feed with mycotoxins. These also cause significant
grain weight losses and decrease of germination ability [124].
This mite is 0.2–0.5 mm in length and has a minute translucent body with nearly
colorless legs and mouthparts. These besides have a scale on the last terminating
segment of the legs. To a certain degree, their slim bodies endure a sequence of hairs,
which are more frequent and lengthier than those on A. siro. On the underneath of the
male’s body, there are two dome-shaped suckers arranged on either side of the anus
(Figure 12). The study conducted to throw some lights on the effect of some food
stuffs on the main biological aspects of the Acarid mite T. putrescentiae at 25°C and
75% R. H., indicated that there is a slightly significant difference between the incuba-
tion period of female and food types. The females reached to maturity (life cycle) in
11.1, 12.5, 13.3 and 14.0 days when fed on wheat flour, milk powder, fish powder and
granular chicken feed, respectively. Female longevity is the longest on wheat flour
(39.0 days), while recorded the shortest time on fish powder (25.1 days). The female
needed 34.6, 30.4, 22.8 and 21.0 days for egg deposition, respectively. The highest
number of deposited eggs is recorded on wheat flour (39.0 eggs), while the lowest
with fish powder (27.8 eggs) as feeding source. However, the male life cycle duration
is significantly affected by the food type, as it averaged 9.8, 10.3, 12.4 and 13.2 days on
the aforementioned diets, respectively. Male adulthood is the longest on wheat flour
(28.7 days), while decreased to 17.0 days on fish powder. The male life span lasted for
38.5, 34.2, 31.2 and 30.2 days, when fed on the above mentioned diets, respectively
[125].
Under optimum conditions, a generation can be completed in 8–21 days. As the
temperature falls, the length of the life cycle increases greatly. This mite will tolerate
high temperatures, and the larval stage is particularly susceptible to low and high

Figure 12.
Tyrophagus putrescentiae.

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temperatures with 93.6 and 54% mortality at 10 and 34°C, respectively. Unlike
A. siro, it does not produce a hypopus stage. Under ideal conditions, with tempera-
tures above 30°C (86°F) and humidity above 85%, it can complete its life cycle in
under 3 weeks [126].
Laboratory investigations on the biology of T. putrescentiae have been conducted
using the flour of soybean (G. max), wheat (T. aestivum) and maize (Z. mays) as
hosts. Life stages of T. putrescentiae (egg, larval, protonymphal and deutonymphal)
have faster development rate that fed on T. aestivum compared to those nourished
on Z. mays and G. max. Higher fecundity of T. putrescentiae has been observed (23.8
eggs) on T. aestivum, in comparison to the other diets experienced (17.1 eggs on Z.
mays and 11.4 with G. max), longevity of female averaged 34.1, 27.0 and 40.8 days,
whereas male longevity distinguished as 23.5, 18.7 and 28.7 days when reared on Z.
mays, G. max and T. aestivum, respectively. On a food of T. aestivum, the average gen-
eration period of T. putrescentiae from egg to adult lasted for 11.7 days corresponding
to 15.2 and 18.8 days after served with Z. mays and G. max, and net population
growth known as 119.0, 61.0 and 32.0 mites per gm of substrate, respectively [88].
An IPM strategy has been developed to manage infestations of mould mite in stored
animal feed, due to the increasing importance as pest of storage facilities and feed
processing. This approach includes some features such as adopting striking hygiene
practice in and around the processing and storage facility, controlling the moistness
content of the processed feed to 12%, rejection of infested grain at the receiving point,
and admixing vegetable oil to some feed (2% w/w). Moreover, seven contact insecti-
cides and phosphine fumigant for their effectiveness against the mould mite have been
evaluated to measure their potential integration into the IPM tactic. Amongst these,
pyrethrin synergized with a newly developed bacterium-based material spinosad,
piperonyl butoxide and insect growth regulator s-methoprene controlled the mites.
Moreover, the fumigant phosphine at 1 mg/L over a 6 days exposure period also
controlled these mites. Until now, the IPM tactic, has resulted in a complete eradication
of the mite population in this particular case of stored animal feed [127].
Even though, the predatory mites aggressively feed on many pest species, their
reproduction and dispersion to cover the affected area and time spent in prey
searching can slow the mites management. Because of this limitation, N. cucumeris
is commonly used as a precautionary controller device and can deliver a competent
control of pest in its initial stage of invasion. This predator can be combined with
some of the chemical insecticides (flonicamid, buprofezin, fenoxycarb, pyme-
trozine) for the ecologically managing of several pests. Conversely, chemical like
bifenthrin, abamectin, cyfluthrin, acephate, esfenvalerate, chlorfenapyr, spinosad,
fipronil, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid can be lethal to life stages of N. cucumeris.
Within a production system, a planned rotation of N. cucumeris by benign insecti-
cides can decrease the general usage of severe chemistries and interrupt the insecti-
cide resistance selection in a pest population [128].
In the case of multiple pests inhabiting different plant parts, a higher rate or
multiple predator releases may be required to achieve the desired level of control.
In some natural pest control programs, various predator species are released to
manage a single prey species. Whereas, in some circumstances, release of multiple
species may offer a well control, while in other cases species may interact with
each other for a possible negative outcome on biological control package. In a
study, intraguild predation has been evaluated between three phytoseiid species,
P. persimilis, A. swirskii and N. barkeri in laboratory situations in either presence or
absence of T. urticae and/or pollen. Adult females of entire three predator species
revealed higher predation rates on larvae than on the other immature stages. Mite
predator P. persimilis did not forage on the nymphal stages of the other two phyto-
seiid species, whereas A. swirskii and N. barkeri fed on all juvenile stages of the two

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others. Females of A. swirskii devoured more phytoseiid larvae than did the other
two species. On the other hand, the predation of the three female species on imma-
ture stages reduced considerably when prey/food has been added to experimental
units. Results advocate that three species, P. persimilis, A. swirskii and N. barkeri
are possibly prone to intraguild interactions with each other, and A. swirskii is the
durable intraguild predator. The outcomes of this study may be supportive in choos-
ing of effective biological control approaches against spider mites [129].
Predator mites are most effective when applied at the first sign of a mites or insect
pests infestations. These will typically turn out to be established in the crop after-
ward one introduction, wherever there persist either mites or pollen for diet. When
prey become infrequent, for example, N. fallacis, transfers to the upper portion of
the plant and commonly scatters all over the crop by the wind or on air currents.
Once predators are set up on some infested foliage, it is generally meaning that the
biological control package will be fruitful. It may take another 2–6 weeks for new
plant growth to display improvement, reliant on growth degrees. For best results in
field crops, placing higher numbers of predators on the prevailing upwind side of
the crop will increase their dispersal throughout the crop via wind. In greenhouses,
natural enemy Persimilis should always be applied along with Fallacis predator [130].

4. Conclusion

Ongoing studies include the biology and ecology of some mite predators along
with pest mites and how biotic and abiotic factors affect pests and their natural
enemies. To cut a long story into short, from lookout of biological control of pest
mites or insect pests, the knowledge on biology and ecology of some predacious as
well as harmful mites is undoubtedly important. A successful management plan
requires information about a species biology including its diet, lifecycle and mass
releases of predator, how it interacts with the environment and with other species as
well as species behavior and how the behavior of both pests and beneficial enemies
can be manipulated to reduce or prevent yield losses. Information of the biology
and ecology of mite pests and their natural enemies contained in the chapter is a
prerequisite to keep a minimum economic impact of pests, eliminate pest menaces
by organic pest controlling and implement efficient plantation protection practices
with modern thinking on environmental problems.

Author details

Muhammad Sarwar
National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE),
Faisalabad, Pakistan

*Address all correspondence to: drmsarwar64@[Link]

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link]
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

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Biology and Ecology of Some Predaceous and Herbivorous Mites Important from the Agricultural…
DOI: [Link]

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for the control of pests in protected

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Chapter 9

Bioecology of Jasmine Mite,

Tetranychus urticae in Different
Jasmine Cultivars
Isaac Merlin Kamala

Abstract

Jasmine is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). Jasminum
sambac, Jasminum auriculatum, Jasminum grandiflorum and Jasminum nitidum are the
four cultivable species of Jasminum. The two-spotted mite, Tetranychus urticae, is a key
pest of Jasminum sp. To compare the lifecycle of the notorious mite in all the cultivable
Jasminum species, a detailed laboratory study was conducted at the Department of
Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.
The observations on lifecycle parameters of two-spotted mite, T. urticae, revealed
that the life cycle consists of egg, larva, protochrysalis, protonymph, deutochrysalis,
deutonymph, teleochrysalis and adult. The lifecycle and duration of each stage are
found to be the shortest in J. nitidum and the longest in J. sambac.

Keywords: Jasminum sambac, Jasminum auriculatum, Jasminum grandiflorum,

Jasminum nitidum, two-spotted mite

1. Introduction

Flowers are inseparable from the social fabric of human life. Flowers, being
adorable creation of god, befit all occasions. Jasmine is an important traditional
flower, cultivated nearly throughout the tropical and subtropical parts of the world
for its fragrant flowers [1]. Jasminum sambac is ravaged by several pests and the
growers were forced to undertake frequent sprays of pesticides, with their excessive
usage causing health hazards, outbreaks of secondary pests, environmental pollu-
tion, objectionable pesticide residues and adverse effect on non-target organisms
and degradation of resources.
Jasminum is the generic name of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae).
Although more than 200 species are known, 40 species have been identified in India
and 20 species are cultivated in South India [2–4], of which only 3 species are used
for commercial cultivation namely Jasminum sambac (gundumalli/Madurai malli),
Jasminum auriculatum (mullai) and Jasminum grandiflorum (jathimalli/pitchi). The
angel jasmine, Jasminum nitidum, with sweetly fragrant, snow-white, pinwheel-shaped
flowers, is recently introduced for commercial cultivation in Tamil Nadu, India.

1.1 Jasminum sambac

Jasminum sambac is an evergreen vine or shrub reaching up to 0.5–3 m (1.6–9.8 ft)

tall. The flowers bloom all throughout the year and are produced in clusters of 3–12

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Figure 1.
Jasminum sambac.

together at the ends of branches. They are strongly scented, with a white corolla
2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) in diameter with 5–9 lobes. The flowers open at night (usually
around 6–8 in the evening) and close in the morning, a span of 12–20 hours. The
sweet, heady fragrance of Jasminum sambac is its distinct feature. It is widely grown
throughout the tropics from the Arabian peninsula to Southeast Asia and the Pacific
Islands as an ornamental plant and for its strongly scented flowers [5] (Figure 1).

1.2 Jasminum auriculatum

Jasminum auriculatum is a species of jasmine, in the family Oleaceae. It is found

in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Andaman Islands. Due to essential oil
contained in the flowers, it is cultivated commercially in India and Thailand. It is
used for decorative purposes and festivals in India. It is a stunning, small climbing
bushy plant with simple ovate dark green small leaves and powdery satin white
flowers. Leaves are opposite, ashy-velvety, sometimes hairless, simple or trifoliolate.
Lateral leaflets are much smaller, rarely exceeding 4 mm in diameter, the central
one up to 3.5 cm long and 1.5 cm broad, ovate, shortly pointed. Nerves are few,
lowest oblique. Bracts are linear, 4 mm long. Flowers are fragrant, in many-flowered
cymes. Flower-stalks are up to 5 mm long. Calyx 3 mm long, pubescent, teeth
minute. Flowers are white, tube 1.5 cm long, lobes elliptic, up to 8 mm long. Berry is
5 mm in diameter, globose, and black [6]) (Figure 2).

1.3 Jasminum grandiflorum

Jasminum grandiflorum, also known variously as the Spanish jasmine, Royal

jasmine, and Catalan jasmine, among others, is a scrambling deciduous shrub
growing to 2–4 m tall. The leaves are opposite, 5–12 cm long, pinnate with 5–11
leaflets. The flowers are produced in open cymes; the individual flowers are white

Figure 2.
Jasminum auriculatum.

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Figure 3.
Jasminum grandiflorum.

having corolla with a basal tube 13–25 mm long and five lobes 13–22 mm long.
The flower’s fragrance is unique and sweet. It is widely cultivated as an ornamen-
tal plant in warm temperate and subtropical regions. By the method of solvent
extraction, the Jasmine flowers are converted into jasmine concrete and jasmine
oleoresin (sold as Jasmine Absolute). Both products have a huge demand in the
fragrance industry. Methyl jasmonate isolated from the jasmine oil of Jasminum
*+andiflorum led to the discovery of the molecular structure of the jasmonate
plant hormones [7] (Figure 3).

1.4 Jasminum nitidum

This twinning climber has slender stems and forms a dense habit. The dark
glossy green leaves are lanced-shaped and the fragrant white star-shaped flowers
appear throughout summer in clusters. The angel wing jasmine is grown for its
flowers and glossy foliage. It is planted in small or large gardens for its fragrance
or to grow over lattice or a pergola. It is suitable for coastal subtropical regions
and establishes in 1–2 years. It is also used in containers and grown under glass in
cold climates. Once established, it has a high-water requirement, and responds to
occasional deep watering particularly during dry periods [8] (Figure 4).
The production of jasmine is affected by various factors, among which, insect
pests are the most devasting factor. The major pests affecting jasmine are jas-
mine bud worm (Hendecasis duplifascialis Hampson), leaf webworm (Nausinoe
geometralis Gurnee), gallery worm (Elasmopalpus jasminophagus Hampson.), leaf
roller, (Glyphodes unionalis Hubner), and the two-spotted mite (Tetranychus urticae
Koch.). Of these, budworm and two-spotted mite gain major economic importance,
as they cause excessive damage to the buds and leaves, respectively. Of these, two-
spotted mite has achieved the status of a major pest causing severe economic loss
by reducing the vitality of the plants, thereby reducing the productivity of flowers.
Tetranychus urticae (Koch, 1836) commonly known as two-spotted mite is a species

Figure 4.
Jasminum nitidum.

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Figure 5.
S,-.toms of damage of two-spotted mite, Tetranychus urticae.

of plant-feeding mite that is generally considered as a pest. It is the most widely

known member of the family Tetranychidae or spider mites. Spider mites are named
so because many members of this family produce silk webbing on the host plants. In
jasmine, flowering commences during March–April and comes to peak in May–July.
During this period, the weather is too hot and is favourable for multiplication and
so the population increases rapidly. These tiny eight-legged arthropods lay eggs
on the underside of leaves. An adult female can lay more than 100 eggs in 3 weeks.
Eggs hatch in 4–5 days and the entire lifecycle from egg to adult is completed in
1–3 weeks, depending on the temperature. The life-cycle of T. urticae consists of five
different stages such as egg, larva, protonymph, deutonymph and adult. Mites are
typically found on the underside of leaves, but may colonise entire plants during
outbreaks. The mites suck sap from cells on the underside of plant leaves, in the
early stages, and characteristic white speckles can be seen from the upper leaf

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DOI: [Link]

surface. As mite number increases, these white speckles also increase and the leaf
exhibits a bleached appearance [9].
In case of severe infestation, the whole plant becomes pale in colour, and affects
production and size of the flower buds. Damage to the leaves inhibits photosyn-
thesis, and severe infestations can result in premature leaf fall, shoot dieback, and
decreased plant vigor. Although the individual lesions are very small, attack by
hundreds or thousands of spider mites can cause thousands of lesions and thus can
significantly reduce the photosynthetic capability of plants [10]. Such buds fetch
a low market price. Silk webbing on the undersides of leaves is a characteristic
sign of spider mites. Under high population densities, the mites move to the tip of
the leaf or top of the plant and congregate using strands of silk to form a ball-like
mass, which will be blown by winds to new leaves or plants, in a process known as
“ballooning’ (Figure 5).
As the infestation by the two-spotted mite, T. urticae/ and the jasmine leaf web-
ber, Nausinoe geometralis Guenee, coincides with the flushing stage, the silky foliage
of jasmine is severely affected, and thereby, the photosynthetic efficiency of plant
is affected, hence affecting flower production. The rapid developmental rate, short
generation time, and high net reproductive rate of T. urticae allow them to achieve
damaging population levels very quickly when growth conditions are suitable,
resulting in an equally rapid decline of host plant quality.
Management of this pest has become a menace for the jasmine growers. The
knowledge on life history of the pest as well as the life-table on different varieties is
essential for developing IPM in better management of any pests. The knowledge of
the sequence of developmental stages, their duration, and number of generations
and method of overwintering is essential to know the ‘weakest link’ in the lifecycle.
This would help to aim control measures effectively at the most vulnerable stage of
the pest. The biology of jasmine two-spotted mite is attempted in the four cultivable
jasmine species, that is, Jasminum sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. niti-
dum. The objective of the study is to compare the different life stages of two-spotted
mite in different Jasmine species.

2. Materials and methods

The life history of red spider mite was studied under laboratory conditions at
the Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Coimbatore, India with the prevailing weather parameters. Pure culture of red
spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, was initiated by collecting the adults from jasmine
field and was maintained in the laboratory. The mites were reared on jasmine leaves
following the technique suggested by Rodriguez [11] and Gilstrap [12]. Field-
collected mites from the field-infested jasmine leaves were reared continuously
on the leaf discs of fresh mulberry leaves cut into squares of 8 cm2 size placed on
foam pads on plastic trays facing the basal side upward. Distilled water was used
to keep the foam pad wet and to maintain the leaf discs in turgid conditions which
were changed when they started turning yellow. Further, in order to prevent the
migration of T. urticae colonies from one disc to other, the leaf squares were fenced
with wet cotton threads. Cut infested jasmine leaf samples were first examined
for predators (i.e., predatory thrips or mites) to avoid possible contamination of
culture. The leaves were then laid on top of the clean mulberry leaves (Figure 6).
After establishment of the culture, the biology was studied.
About 20 mated females were released on a fresh leaf in the petridish and
allowed overnight, in order to obtain the eggs. Next morning, the eggs were care-
fully lifted with the help of a moistened 00 size camel hairbrush and transferred

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Figure 6.
Mass culturing of Tetranychus urticae.

to previously prepared leaf discs at the rate of one egg per leaf disc per Petri plate.
Such 35 plants were maintained to study the biology. The development of various
stages of the mite was observed twice a day with the help of stereoscopic binocular
microscope. The observation on life history included incubation period (days),
duration of larva, (days) protonymph, deutonymph, quiescent stages, preoviposi-
tion, oviposition and post oviposition periods, fecundity and longevity of adults,
sex ratio and the viability of eggs. The midpoint between two observations was
considered as the time of moulting whenever a change to next stage was observed.
But, if moulting was just taking place at the time of observation, then it was taken
as the time of moulting. When the mites reached the adult stage, the other sex of
the mite that developed on the leaf disc was released on to the leaf disc to observe
mating, pre-oviposition, oviposition and post-oviposition and also fecundity and
longevity of the mite.
To study the biology in different Jasminum species, the mites were cultured in J.
sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum placed inside Petri dishes, and
the following parameters were recorded.

2.1 Fecundity rate

The female deutonymphs and male adults were collected from the respective
cultures and released at one pair per Petri dish. They were allowed to oviposit, and
observations on the number of eggs laid per day, egg period and total number of
eggs laid throughout the oviposition period were recorded.

2.2 Duration of life stages

One pair of matured female and male mites was released per Petri dish. After a
few hours of oviposition, the mites were removed using a camel hair brush retain-
ing only five eggs in each petri dish. Hatching was observed, and the duration of
different immature stages followed by adult longevity was recorded.

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2.3 Percentage of larvae becoming adult

The female deutonymphs and adult males were collected from the respective
cultures and released at three pairs per petri dish. Two days after oviposition, mites
were removed leaving only the eggs. The numbers of larvae successfully reaching
the adult stage were counted in each petri dish and the percentage was worked out.

3. Results and discussion

The biology of two-spotted mite, T. urticae on J. sambac, J. auriculatum,

J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum as host plants was investigated under controlled
conditions, and the results are presented in Table 1. The different life stages are
described hereunder.

3.1 Egg

The freshly laid eggs were brown or translucent white in colour, which gradu-
ally turned to deep brown and then creamy pinkish as they approach hatching.
The spherical-shaped eggs were laid singly. The incubation period ranged from
1 to 3 days. The average incubation period was 2.2, 2.0, 1.5 and 1.5 days in J. sambac,
J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum, respectively (Figures 7 and 8).
The newly hatched larvae were almost spherical in shape and creamy white in
colour. Two bright and prominent red spots (simple eyes) were present on the dor-
sal sides of the propodosomal region. The larva possessed only three pairs of legs.
The larval period ranged from 2 to 3 days. The average larval period was 2.5, 2.2, 1.9
and 1.7 days in J. sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum, respectively.

3.2 Protochrysalis

The dark green matured larva entered into the quiescent stage by anchor-
ing itself to the leaf surface. The stage was dark green. The average period of

Life stages of two-spotted Duration of different life stages of T. urticae in four Jasminum species
mite Mean ± SD (in days)

J. sambac J. auriculatum J. grandiflorum J. nitidum

Incubation period 2.2 ± 0.91 2.0 ± 0.81 1.5 ± 0.84 1.5 ± 0.84

Larval period 2.5 ± 0.52 2.2 ± 0.42 1.9 ± 0.31 1.7 ± 0.483

Duration of protochrysalis 2.2 ± 0.42 1.9 ± 0.32 1.6 ± 0.52 1.20 ± 0.42

Duration of protonymph 2.4 ± 0.52 1.7 ± 0.48 1.5 ± 0.53 1.1 ± 0.32

Duration of deutochrysalis 2.5 ± 0.53 2.0 ± 0.47 1.7 ± 0.48 1.4 ± 0.52

Duration of deutonymph 2.7 ± 0.48 2.3 ± 0.48 2.0 ± 0.67 1.0 ± 0.48

Duration of teleochrysalis 2.9 ± 0.32 2.2 ± 0.63 1.5 ± 0.71 1.1 ± 0.32

Adult longevity 21.7 ± 1.64 21.3 ± 1.64 21.1 ± 2.23 19.9 ± 1.37

Total developmental 24.9 ± 1.37 24.0 ± 1.83 23.9 ± 1.37 22.8 ± 1.55
period (egg-adult)
*
Mean of three observations.

Table 1.
Life stages of two-spotted mite, Tetranychus urticae, on four Jasminum species.

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Figure 7.
Radar representation of biology of two-spotted mite, Tetranychus urticae on different Jasminum species.
(a) Egg and larval period,(b) Adult longevity and total lifecycle.

Figure 8.
Biology of two-spotted mite, Tetranychus urticae.

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Bioecology of Jasmine Mite, Tetranychus urticae in Different Jasmine Cultivars
DOI: [Link]

protochrysalis was 2.2, 1.9, 1.6 and 1.2 days in J. sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflo-
rum and J. nitidum, respectively.

3.3 Protonymph

The protochrysalis moulted into protonymph. The body was oval in shape with
four pairs of legs and dark green in colour in the beginning, which later turned into
amber colour. The average period of protonymph was 2.4, 1.7, 1.5 and 1.1 days in
J. sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum, respectively.

3.4 Deutochrysalis

The matured protonymph entered into quiescent, a stage which is known as

deutochrysalis. The body also shrinked and decreased in size and attained a dark
green colour. The average period of protochrysalis was 2.5, 2.0, 1.7 and 1.4 days in J.
sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum, respectively.

3.5 Deutonymph

The deutonymph emerged from deutochrysalis. The body was red coloured,
larger and broader than protonymph. The average period of deutonymph was 2.7,
2.3, 2.0 and 1.0 days in J. sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum.

3.6 Teleochrysalis

The deutonymph at its maturity enters into a quiescent stage known as tele-
ochrysalis. In this stage, the body shrinks and decreases in size. The colour of this
stage is light red to creamy. The average larval period of protochrysalis was 2.9, 2.2,
1.5 and 1.1 days in J. sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum.

3.7 Adult

The body of the adult male was narrow with a distinct abdomen, greenish in
colour which later turned pinkish. The first pair of legs was longer than the rest of the
pairs. Males were smaller than females and lived for 11–12 days. The newly emerged
females looked dull red which later turned to deep brick red. The simple eyes were
seen as two red spots on the sides of the dorsal propodosomal region. The adult female
survived for 19–24 days. The pre-oviposition period varied from 2 to 3 days with an
average of 2.7 days. The oviposition period lasted for 11–14 days with an average of
12.0 days. Each female laid about 123–160 eggs with an average of 146.6 eggs. The
mean number of eggs laid was 10–12 eggs per day. The maximum number of eggs laid
by a female was 11–12 eggs per day. The average adult longevity is 21.7, 21.3, 21.1 and
19.9 in J. sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum, respectively.

3.8 Total developmental period

The total developmental period (egg to adult) ranged from 24.9, 24.0, 23.9
and 22.8 days in J. sambac, J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum, respec-
tively (Figure 6).
The biology of the two-spotted mite, comprising egg, larva, protochrysalis,
protonymph, deutochrysalis, deutonymph, teleochrysalis and adult stages was
completed in 24.9 days. The results are in agreement with Rajakumar et al. [13], who
reported that the total developmental period of mites in jasmine was 22.80 days for

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♂ and 31.08 days for ♀. The outcome of the study was also in conformity with Vinoth
Kumar et al. [14] who also suggested that the developmental period ranges from 26
to 27 days in brinjal and Premalatha [15] who stated that the total developmental
period of two-spotted mites lasted from 24.71 to 25.71 days. But the egg-to-adult
developmental period was lesser viz., 24.0, 23.9 and 22.8 days in other Jasminum sp.,
J. auriculatum, J. grandiflorum and J. nitidum, respectively, which proves that mites
did not prefer them as J. sambac. The biochemical contents of the plant like high phe-
nols, low sugar, protein or other biophysical factors like leaf surface wax could be the
probable reason for the less preference which resulted in shorter life cycle. Different
leaf characters like leaf area, leaf hair density, length of leaf and leaf thickness have
a significant impact on the searching capability of mites [16]. Saber and Momen [17]
reported that leaf toughness and thickness are very important factors, which influ-
ence the reproduction and development of phytoseiid mite population.

4. Conclusion

The observations on life cycle parameters of two-spotted mite, T. urticae,

revealed that the life cycle consists of egg, larva, protochrysalis, protonymph,
deutochrysalis, deutonymph, teleochrysalis and adult. The lifecycle and duration of
each stage are found to be the shortest in J. nitidum and the longest in J. sambac.
The use of moderately resistant varieties as a part of the IPM strategy can
enhance the biological and chemical tools of insect pest management. One of the
techniques to decrease the pest damage is use of the cultivars or species which show
higher resistance to insect pests such as J. nitidum and J. grandiflorum in areas where
the incidence of jasmine mites is high. J. grandiflorum is a commercially cultivated
species of jasmine, well known for its mesmerizing fragrance as well as usage
for concrete recovery. But, J. nitidum is a new Jasminum species with star-shaped
fragrant flowers newly introduced for commercial flower cultivation. Hence, utiliz-
ing this least preferred species in breeding programs of jasmine will yield better
varieties with greater degree of resistance to jasmine pests.

Author details

Isaac Merlin Kamala

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India

*Address all correspondence to: merlinento@[Link]

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([Link]
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

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Bioecology of Jasmine Mite, Tetranychus urticae in Different Jasmine Cultivars
DOI: [Link]

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 Edited by Dalila Haouas and Levente Hufnagel

Pests Control and Acarology presents novel methods adopted in pest management for
cereal crops and fruit trees. Each chapter was written by experts in their respective
areas, and provides a rigorous review and outline of current trends and future
needs, to expedite progress in the field. The book was structured in three sections as
follows. The first section introduces the topics and defines concepts of Integrated Pest
Management and Biological Control. The second section includes two chapters: the first
one discusses a new trap barrier system for rodent pest control in rice and the second
one presents methods used in the management of stem borers in cereal crops. The third
section presents various topics within the area of Acarology.

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