Three new Aceria species (Acari: Trombidiformes: Eriophyidae) associated with the invasive weed Imperata cylindrica (L.) (Poaceae) from Egypt

ABSTRACT

Three new Aceria species of eriophyoid mites collected from Imperata cylindrica (L.) (Poaceae) in Egypt were described and illustrated– Aceria aegyptimperata sp. nov., A. cylindricae sp. nov., and A. qualyubi sp. nov. A. aegyptimperata is a vagrant underneath inner surface of the leaf sheath around stem and no symptoms were observed; the other two species were found underneath inner surface of the rolled up and rusted leaves.

http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B4EFE201-7F53-444F-A330-ECA24BF5BDBC

KEYWORDS:

• Eriophyoidea
• Aceriini
• taxonomy
• phytophagous mites
• weeds
• invasive grass

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Dr. Carlos H.W. Flechtmann (Departamento de Entomologia e Acarologia, Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz”, Universidade de São Paulo; Brazil) for valuable comments on early versions of this manuscript and his many suggestions along the conduction of the present study, and two anonymous reviewers for linguistic revision of an earlier draft of the manuscript and suggestions for improving it. Thanks also to Dr. Samiran Chakrabarti (University of Kalyani, Kalyani; India), and Dr. Anna Skoracka (Adam Mickiewicz University; Poland) for providing literature used in this work. Special thanks to Dr Reham Abo-Shnaf (Plant Protection Research Institute, A. R. C., Dokki, Giza, Egypt) for thoughtful review.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.