Eutetranychus orientalis Klein, 1936

Toroitich, Faith J., Ueckermann, Edward A., Theron, Pieter D. & Knapp, Markus, 2009, The tetranychid mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) of Kenya and a redescription of the species Peltanobia erasmusi Meyer (Acari: Tetranychidae) based on males, Zootaxa 2176, pp. 33-47 : 40-41

Eutetranychus orientalis Klein, 1936

This species is characterized as follows: Striae on prodorsum longitudinal and tuberculate; striation pattern between second (d1) and third pairs of dorsocentral setae (e1) vary from longitudinal to V-shaped; 13 pairs of dorsocentral setae set on tubercles and vary in length and shape; dorsolateral setae (c2, d2, e2 and f2) long and lanceolate, subspatulate or broadly spatulate with dorsocentral setae (c1, d1, e1, f1 and h1) short and spatulate, lanceolate or subspatulate.

The leg chaetotaxy as follows: tibiae 10-6-6-7; genua 5-5-2-2; femora 8-6-3-1; coxae 2-1-1-1.

Specimens examined: Three males and five females collected on Citrus limon (Rutaceae) from Baringo district (N00º29.132’; E036º00.906’); five males and eight females on orange Citrus sinensis (Rutaceae) from Makueni district (S01°50.188'; E037°38.166').

More specimen of this species were collected on Citrus paradisi (Rutaceae) from Kilifi and Melia azadarach (Meliaceae) from Kisumu.

Remarks: This species can be separated from the closely related E. africanus by the presence of only one seta on coxa II and an aedeagus whose bent portion is longer than the dorsal margin of the shaft ( Figure 4 C).

It has a wide distribution in the Afrotropical, Australasian and Palearctic regions as a pest of citrus . It has also been reported on members of other host families. In Kenya, this species was previously recorded on Citrus sp. ( Rutaceae ) from Thika district, Kenya ( Meyer, 1987) and in this study it was collected from citrus trees in most of the areas where sampling was done. They are grey in colour and in cases of severe infestation, the plant appears dull in colour as though covered by a grey layer of soot.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Eutetranychus sp. aedegi (from Meyer, 1974 with modifications): (A) E. africanus aedeagus, (B) E. carinae aedeagus, (C) E. orientalis aedeagus.