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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #328383
Research Project: Plant Feeding Mite (Acari) Systematics

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Tenuipalpus sensu stricto (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) from Brazil, with ontogeny and a key to the known species

Author
item CASTRO, ELIZEU - Sao Paulo State University (UNESP)
item FERES, REINALDO J - Sao Paulo State University (UNESP)
item Ochoa, Ronald - Ron
item Bauchan, Gary

Submitted to: Zootaxa
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/3/2016
Publication Date: 3/10/2016
Citation: Castro, E.B., Feres, R.F., Ochoa, R., Bauchan, G.R. 2016. Tenuipalpus sensu stricto (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) from Brazil, with ontogeny and a key to the known species. Zootaxa. 4088(3):355-378.

Interpretive Summary: Plant feeding mites cause millions of dollars annually to agricultural commodities in direct damage, quarentine and control cost. Several species in the family Tenuipalpidae are important economic pests in the Americas. We describe a new species from the forest of “Cerrado” from Brazil. In this study we described the mites associated to trees from “Cerrado” from Brazil using scanning electron microscopy, and provide details of plant species relationships and descriptions of all stages of development of the mites. Research scientists, growers, and USDA-APHIS will use this information for the identification of potential pests in the U.S.

Technical Abstract: The Cerrado is the second largest Brazilian biome, and is considered to be a “hotspot” due the great concentration of en-demic species and high rate of deforestation. Surveys of the mite fauna present in this biome have revealed a great number of new species. In this paper, we describe Tenuipalpus spinosaurus sp. nov. (Acari: Tenuipalpidae), a new species of Ten-uipalpus sensu stricto, from adult females, deutonymphs, protonymphs, larvae and eggs, collected on Terminalia argentea (Combretaceae), from the Cerrado in Brazil. Females of this new species bear a prominent longitudinal crest on the opist-hosoma. The ontogenetic changes in the idiosoma and leg chaetotaxy of all stages are presented. A key to the world species of Tenuipalpus sensu stricto is provided.