during a faunistic survey of natural enemies of spider mites of genus tetranychus in mashhad and vicinity, a predatory gall midge species belonging to the family cecidomyiidae was collected and identified as feltiella acarisuga vallot. f. acarisuga is one of the ten species in the genus feltiella and an important biological control agent of tetranychid mites has previously been reported from va...

weed biocontrol by using eriophid mites could be a safe and efficient strategy. in order to find an ecological non-chemical approach for controlling of weeds, and studying the possibility of using eriophyid mites, field surveys were conducted in razavi khorasan and north khorasan provinces during spring 2010. collecting of mites was carried out at all of the vegetative and reproductive stages o...

High incidences of red, itching, and painful welts on people in the midwestern United States led to the discovery of a European species of mite, Pyemotes herfsi (Oudemans) (Acari: Pyemotidae), preying on gall-making midge larvae on oak leaves. The mites' great reproductive potential, small size, and high capacity for dispersal by wind make them difficult to control or avoid.

Interest in studying galls and their arthropods inducers has been growing rapidly in the last two decades. However, the Neotropical region is probably the least studied region for gall-inducing arthropods. A study of the richness and composition of gall-inducing arthropods was carried out at Coiba National Park in the Republic of Panama. Field data come from samples obtained between August 1997...

Forest management not only affects biodiversity but also might alter ecosystem processes mediated by the organisms, i.e. herbivory the removal of plant biomass by plant-eating insects and other arthropod groups. Aiming at revealing general relationships between forest management and herbivory we investigated aboveground arthropod herbivory in 105 plots dominated by European beech in three diffe...

Carotenoids underlie many of the vibrant yellow, orange, and red colors in animals, and are involved in processes ranging from vision to protection from stresses. Most animals acquire carotenoids from their diets because de novo synthesis of carotenoids is primarily limited to plants and some bacteria and fungi. Recently, sequencing projects in aphids and adelgids, spider mites, and gall midges...

Latitudinal patterns in herbivory, i.e. variations in plant losses to animals with latitude, are generally explained by temperature gradients. However, earlier studies suggest that geographical variation in abundance and diversity of gall-makers may be driven by precipitation rather than by temperature. To test the above hypothesis, we examined communities of eriophyoid mites (Acari: Eriophyoid...

Biological control is an attractive option for controlling invasive plant species that are difficult to manage otherwise. However, the release of a non-native as biological agent carries risks. The most obvious risk relates impacts on other than targeted control. There are, however, also We report potential unintended impact Dasineura dielsi, gall-forming was released against Acacia cyclops in ...