ABSTRACT
Research on the acarofauna of citrus groves has demonstrated the presence of various phytophagous species including three Tenuipalpidae - Hystripalpus lewisi (Ewing), Brevipalpus phoenicis (Geijskes) and Cenopalpus pulcher (Can. and Franz.), three Eriophyidae - Eriophyes sheldoni (Ewing), Aculops pelekassi (Keifer) and Phyllocoptruta oleivora (Keifer), three Tetranychidae - Tetranychus urticae (Koch), Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Bois) and Panonychus ulmi (Koch) - as well as one Tarsonemida - Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) - and five predatory Phytoseiidae species, of which Amblyseius aberrans (Oudemans), Amblyseius finlandicus (Oudemans) and Phytoseius plumifer (Can. and Franz.) represent the typical predators on mites in Greek citrus groves. Of the plant-feeding species, Tetranychus urticae, Panonychus ulmi, Aculops pelekassi and Phyllocoptruta oleivora can cause significant economic damage, sometimes destroying the entire crop where they are present in very large numbers. While Tenuipalpidae are widespread, populations are low and they cause no damage to citrus fruit.
