A new data on spider mites (Acari: Trombidiformes: Tetranychidae) inhabiting ornamental plants on the Black Sea coast of Krasnodar Region, Russia

Abstract

The spider mites of ornamental plants on the Black Sea coast of Krasnodar Region, Russia were examined. The collected material is deposited in the collection of All-Russian Plant Quarantine Centre (Bykovo, Moscow Region, Russia). Oligonychus hondoensis (Ehara, 1954) is recorded for the fauna of Russia for the first time. The locality of this species in Sochi is the westernmost in Eurasia to the present time. Oligonychus hondoensis is an invasive species for the acari fauna in the mentioned region. Its invasion is the most likely associated with the import of Cryptomeria plants for planting. Females of O. hondoensis are characterized, in contrast to representatives of the subgenus Wainsteiniella Tuttle et Baker, 1968 of the former USSR fauna, in the presence of long setae v2, sc1 and с3 in comparison with other idiosomal setae; sc1 are distinctly longer than sc2 and almost reaching the base of с1. Besides, the first pair of dorso-central setae (с1) are distinctly longer than the next two pairs (d1, е1); the length of c1 is 2/3 or more than с3. Oligonychus hondoensis was registered on Juniperus chinensis for the first time. Four species of tetranychid mites were recorded for Krasnodar Region of Russia for the first time: Oligonychus brevipilosus (Zacher, 1932), O. buschi (Reck, 1956), O. ununguis (Jacobi, 1905) and O. lagodechii Livshits et Mitrofanov, 1969. The latter species is the most abundant on ornamental plants of the family Cupressaceae. This taxon was collected from Juniperus communis, J. chinensis, J. squamata var. fargesii, Thuja sp. for the first time. A photograph of the aedeagus of O. lagodechii is given.

Keywords

• spider mites
• invasive species
• new host plants
• new records