Eriophyidae

Eriophyidae is a family of more than 200 genera of mites, which live as plant parasites, commonly causing galls or other damage to the plant tissues and hence known as gall mites. About 3,600 species have been described, but this is probably less than 10% of the actual number existing in this poorly-researched family. They are tiny, microscopic mites and are yellow to pinkish white to purplish in color. The mites are worm like, and have only two pairs of legs. Their primary method of population spread is by wind. They affect a wide range of plants, and several are major pest species causing substantial economic damage to crops. Some species, however, are used as biological agents to control weeds and invasive plant species.

Notable species

Notable species in this family include:

• Abacarus hystrix, the cereal rust mite
• Abacarus sacchari, the sugarcane rust mite
• Acalitus essigi, the redberry mite — attacks blackberries
• Aceria chondrillae, the chondrilla gall mite — agent of biological control against skeleton weed (Chondrilla juncea)
• Aceria malherbae, the bindweed gall mite — agent of biological control against field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis)
• Eriophyes guerreronis — causes mandari disease of coconuts. The Krishi Vigyan Kandra, Kannur under Kerala Agricultural University has developed an innovative extension approach called compact area group approach (CAGA) to combat problems like coconut mite.
• Eriophyes padi – causes cherry pouch galls on black cherry trees

Selected genera

References

• Digital museum of Nature: Classification of Eriophyoid Mites
• Fauna Europaea
• Joel Hallan's Biology Catalog: Eriophyidae

External links

• Acalitus vaccinii, blueberry bud mite on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
• Acathrix trymatus, a coconut mite on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
• Aceria guerreronis , a coconut mite on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site