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TENUIPALPUS COYACUS DE LEON (Acari: Tenuipalpidae), NEW REPORT FOR CUBA

 

TENUIPALPUS COYACUS DE LEON (Acari: Tenuipalpidae), NUEVO INFORME PARA CUBA

 

 

H. Rodríguez*, P. de la Torre**

*Grupo Plagas Agrícolas. Dirección de Protección de Plantas. Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (CENSA). Apartado 10, San José de las Lajas, La Habana, Cuba. E-mail: [e-mail]; **Laboratorio Central de Cuarentena Vegetal. Ayuntamiento #231, Plaza de la Revolución,
Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba

 

 

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ABSTRACT

The genus Tenuipalpus is represented in Cuba by four species. Tenuipalpus coyacus De Leon is reported for first the time in the present paper. The mites were collected from leaves of Roystonia regia O.F. Cook at San José de las Lajas municipality, Havana Province. Some data about the life cycle of this mite are offered.

Key words: Tenuipalpus coyacus; Roystonia regia; Tenuipalpidae

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RESUMEN

El género Tenuipalpus está representado en Cuba por cuatro especies. En el presente trabajo se informa por primera vez la presencia de Tenuipalpus coyacus De León. Los ácaros se colectaron sobre hojas de Roystonia regia O.F. Cook en el municipio San José de las Lajas, provincia La Habana. Se brindan algunos datos sobre su ciclo de desarrollo.

Palabras clave: Tenuipalpus coyacus; Roystonia regia; Tenuipalpidae

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The tenuipalpids or the false spider mites have a worldwide distribution and they are more numerous in the warmest regions of the world (1,2). In the Tenuipalpidae family, 622 species belonging to 30 genera have been reported (3).

Tenuipalpus Donnadieu is a large and widely distributed genus of phytophagous mites. It comprises up to 200 described species feeding on various plant species (4). Only four species; T. cedrelae Livschitz y Salina, T. hurae Livschitz y Salina, T. imias Cao y T. swieteniae Livschitz and Salina have been previously reported in Cuba (5).

In an investigation of the acarine fauna associated with plant species of the Arecaceae family carried out at San Jose de las Lajas municipality, Havana Province (6), a new species of Tenuipalpus (T. coyacus De Leon) was reported for the country. Specimens were cleared in a lactic acid solution and mounted in Hoyer's medium. For the morphometric study; the body length was measured from the apex of the rostrum to the posterior apex of the body, and the width was measured at the level of the sejugal furrow. All measurements are given in micrometers (µm). The setal nomenclature used in the description follows Lindquist's system (7). The specimens were deposited in the collection of Acarology Laboratory at the National Centre of Animal and Plant Health, Cuba.

To known the life cycle under laboratory conditions, sections of leaves of R. regia were placed on water-satured cotton layer in 9 cm Petri dishes and the leaves were surrounded with wet cotton. Females of T. coyacus were allowed to oviposit for 24 h, and then removed. Thereafter, the eggs were observed daily till adult emergency. The duration mean and standard deviation per stage were calculated.

Tenuipalpus coyacus De Leon

Description: The specimens examined agreed with the description given by De Leon (8) and Baker and Tuttle (2). Female: Red. Dorsum of body medially with numerous irregular mostly transverse ridges; lateral of those on opisthosoma small rounded knobs. Lengths of setae: v2 7; sc1 53,3; sc2 60,3; c1 30; c3 25,3; d1 26,6; d2 10; e1 23,6; e2 19; e3 22,3; f2 20,6; h1 20,6; h2 115. The ventral lengths of setae are: IC3a 14,3; IC4a 66,6; ag 22,3; g1 31,6; g2 31,6; ps1 10, ps2 23,6. Palpus three-segmented. Legs with both enlarged and setiform types of setae; coxa III with a seta on anterior margin; patellae I and II each with a seta on anterior and posterior margins; patella III with enlarged seta on anterior margin; patella IV bare; tarsi I and II each with a posterodistal rod-like seta and an overlying seta. Length 369, width 197,3 (Fig. 1a)

Male: Resembles female, but body setae proportionally smaller. Lengths of setae: v2 5 sc1 47, sc2 52, c1 19, c3 22, d1 19, d2 5,6, e1 17,3, e2 13, e3 15, f2 16,6, h1 17, h2 138,5. The ventral lengths of setae are: IC3a 9, IC4a 48,6, ag 12,3, g1 15, g2 15, ps1 10. Length 299, width 157,6 (Fig. 1b).

SPECIMENS EXAMINED: Three females and three males, on Roystonia regia, at San José de las Lajas municipality, Havana, Cuba, 11.xii. 2007.

REMARKS: Tenuipalpus coyacus is closely related to T. dasples Baker and Pritchard, but differing from it by having the third dorsal propodosomal rather narrow and reaching nearly to the hysterosomal suture among other characters a much longer third dorsal propodosomal and a seta on patella III.

This specie was reported in San Bias, Nayarit, México by De Leon (8) on Cocos nucifera L. In 2005, it was reported for first time in Recife, Brasil on C. nucifera (9). Subsequently, Gomes et al. (10) indicated its presence in Sul da Bahia on C. nucifera and Euterpe oleracea Mart. R. regia is a new hosp plant report.

The average duration of life-history stages were: egg 13,18±3,37 days; larva 5,90±1,52 days; nymph I 7,74±2,05 days and nymph II 8,00±1,41 days. The total period from egg deposition to adulthood averaged 34,79±3,13 days. These results are the first data about the biology of this Tenuipalpus species.

The phytoseiid mites Amblyseius largoensis Muma, Amblyseius silvaticus (Chant), Euseius hibisci Garman, Amblyseius aerialis Muma, Africoseiulus namibianus (Ueckermann) and Galendromimus alveolaris Chant were detected in association with T. coyacus. They can be considered as possible predators of this phytophagous mite. Further studies are needed to determine the damage that T. coyacus can produce on R. regia.

 

REFERENCES

1. Jeppson LR, Keifer HH, Baker EW. Mites injurious to economic plants. University of California Press, Berkeley. 1975; 614 pp.

2. Baker EW, Tuttle DM. The false spider mites of México (Tenuipalpidae: Acari). U.S. Department of Agriculture Techn. Bull. n.1706. 1987; 237 pp.

3. Childers C, Rodrigues JCV, Welbourn WC. Host plants of Brevipalpus californicus, B. obovatus and B. phoenicis (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) and their potential involvement in the spread of viral diseases vectored by these mites. Exp Appl Acarol. 2003; 30:29-105.

4. Meyer MKP. A revision of the genus Tenuipalpus Donnadieu (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) in the Afrotropical region. Entomology Memoir Department of Agriculture, Republic of South Africa, 1993; 88: i-iv:1-84.

5. Cuervo N, González JL, Reyes M, Martínez H. Lista alfabética de las especies de ácaros de Cuba (Arachnida: Acari). Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática y Laboratorio Central de Cuarentena, La Habana; 1994.

6. Hastie E, Benegas-Avalos A, Rodríguez H. Inventario de los ácaros depredadores asociados a especies fitófagas en plantas de las familias Arecaceae y Musaceae en el municipio de San José de las Lajas. Rev Protección Veg. 2010; 25(1):17-25.

7. Lindquist EE. Anatomy, phylogeny and systematics. 1.1.1. External anatomy. In: Helle W, Sabelis MW, Editors. Spider Mites, Their Biology, Natural Enemies and Control. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam. 1985; Vol. 1A. pp. 4-29.

8. De Leon D. The genus Tenuipalpus in México (Acarina: Tenuipalpidae). The Florida Entomol. 1957; 40(3): 81-93.

9. Vasconcelos GJN, Da Silva FR, Barbosa DGF, Correa MG, de Moraes GJ. Ocorrência de Eriophyoidea, Tenuipalpidae, Tarsonemidae e Tukerellidae (Acari) em fruteiras no Estado de Pernambuco, Brasil. CAATINGA, Mossoró-RN. 2005; 18(2):98-104.

10.Gomes AL, Reis AL, Vieira IS, Leão MA, Oliveira AR. Acaros Tenuipalpidae (Acari: Prostigmata) em fruteiras tropicais no Sul da Bahia. In: XX Congresso Brasileiro de Fruticultura and 54^th Annual Meeting of the Interamerican Society for Tropical Horticulture. 12-17 october 2008. Centro de Convenções, Vitória, 2008.

 

(Recibido 15-10-2009; Aceptado 1-2-2010)