ABSTRACT
The results are given of a field investigation on the effect of treatment with 2% white mineral oil on the main species of mite present in a lemon orchard in Eastern Sicily. The study confirms that white mineral oil gives a good control of Aceria sheldoni (Ewing); it appeared to be selective with respect to the phytoseiid Amblyseius stipulatus Athias–Henriot, which appreciably controls the populations of Tetranychus urticae Koch. The latter were adequately kept under control in the course of the year by A. stipulatus and by other acarophagi present in the field and which had been spared by the selective action of the white mineral oil. The tydeids and stigmaeids were instead weakened by the treatment, but over the year their populations were built up again.
