Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #381333
Research Project: Systematics of Acari and Hemiptera: Plant Pests, Predators, and Disease Vectors

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Theobroma cacao, a new host for Brevipalpus yothersi (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) in Peru

Author
item ESCOBAR-GARCIA, HECTOR - UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE PIURA
item ANDRADE, DANIEL JUNIOR - SAO PAULO STATE UNIVERSITY (UNESP)
item CARRILLO, DANIEL - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
item Ochoa, Ronald - Ron

Submitted to: Acarologia
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/3/2021
Publication Date: 4/1/2021
Citation: Escobar-Garcia, H.A., Andrade, D., Carrillo, D., Ochoa, R. 2021. Theobroma cacao, a new host for Brevipalpus yothersi (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) in Peru. Acarologia. 61(3):1-4. https://doi.org/10.24349/acarologia/20214427.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24349/acarologia/20214427

Interpretive Summary: Flat mites are an economically important pest in many fruit trees around the world. The most common damage is produced by their feeding on the surface of leaves and fruits. This short note reports for the first time in Peru a flat mite affecting cocoa fruit. This information is useful for people working with plant-feeding mites, quarantine and agriculture.

Technical Abstract: Brevipalpus yothersi Baker (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) is reported for the first time in cocoa, Theobroma cacao L. (Malvaceae) in northwestern Peru. Mites were collected from eight organic cocoa smallholdings from September to December 2020 in three provinces of the Piura Department. The highest mite population density was found on peduncle and epicarps of fruits of different phenological stages, and the lowest density on the leaves of the trees.