Three new species were described and illustrated from South Laos in this paper, two of them, Phetehaburus caricaesp. nov. infesting Carica papaya L. (Caricaceae) and Phyllocoptruta tabernaemontanasp. nov. infesting Tabernaemontana divaricata L. (Apocynaceae) belong to subfamily Phyllocoptinae (Eriophyidae) and another species, Diptilomiopus careyussp. nov. infesting Careya arborea Roxb. (Lecythidaceae) belongs to Diptilomiopinae (Diptilomiopidae). All the new species described herein are vagrants on the host plant.

The genus Arisocerus is synonymized with Herpetacarus. Redescriptions of Herpetacarus amapensiscomb. nov. and Herpetacarus hertigicomb. nov., are provide with new Brazilian locality and host records for H. hertigicomb. nov.

The MullederiaWood, 1964 (Acari: Stigmaeidae) is a species-limited genus with a geographic distribution so far restricted to eastern Palaearctic, Indomalaya and Australasia regions. Mullederia sichuanensisWang, 1986 is newly recorded from Japan based on specimens collected from two different evergreen broad-leaved forests at Bōsō Peninsula, Chiba Prefecture (Honshu). Adult females, males and deutonymphs are redescribed and illustrated. Interspecific morphological variations among world species of Mullederia are provided. Also, stigmaeid mite species recorded from Japan are listed.

A new and a newly recorded caligonellid species, Neognathus pusillussp. nov. and N. eupalopus Meyer & Ueckermann, are herein described and illustrated based on the adult females from Turkey. A key to the species known from Turkey is provided.

Nine new eriophyoid mite species of the genus Diptilomiopus (Acari: Diptilomiopidae) from China and Malaysia are described and illustrated. They are D. broussonetus sp. nov. on Broussonetia sp. (Moraceae), D. callicarpus sp. nov. on Callicarpa bodinieri (Lamiaceae), D. fortunus sp. nov. on Alniphyllum fortunei (Styracaceae), D. keningaus sp. nov. on Stephania sp. (Menispermaceae), D. milletus sp. nov. on Adinandra milletii (Pentaphylacaceae), D. nobilus sp. nov. on Sterculia nobilis (Malvaceae), D. octandrus sp. nov. on Aporosa octandra (Phyllanthaceae), D. rotundus sp. nov. on Ilex rotunda (Aquifoliaceae), and D. sabahus sp. nov. on Morus sp. (Moraceae). All new species are vagrant on lower leaf surface. No damage to the host was observed.

The predatory mite, Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor), is an important biological control agent of Tetranychus urticae Koch in greenhouse crops. Oulenziella bakeri is an important alternative prey for the commercial production of N. californicus. To confirm that the predatory relationship between N. californicus and O. bakeri is beneficial to the reproduction of N. californicus, the functional and numerical responses of N. californicus to O. bakeri and T. urticae were compared when exposed to six prey densities (2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 individuals) under laboratory conditions. An analysis of the logistic regression showed that the adult female N. californicus displayed a type II functional response when fed on O. bakeri and T. urticae eggs and nymphs. The proportion of the consumed prey by N. californicus to the total supplied prey declined, even though the absolute number of predation events increased as the prey density increased. The Holling disc equation revealed that N. californicus had greater attack rates on the eggs (0.86-1.03) and nymphs (0.73-0.93) of T. urticae than those of O. bakeri, which were (0.55–0.73) and (0.71–0.96), respectively. N. californicus had longer handling times for the eggs (0.05–0.09) and nymphs (0.07–0.12) of O. bakeri compared with those of T. urticae, which were (0.03–0.05) and (0.04–0.07), respectively. The numbers of eggs laid by N. californicus feeding on eggs and nymphs of T. urticae were greater than those feeding on O. bakeri; but as the density increased, the difference in the oviposition rates between the predators feeding on two mites decreased. The comparison of the functional and numerical responses of the predator to O. bakeri and T. urticae revealed that the former is a good alternative food in the commercial production of N. californicus.

Two new species of oribatid mites of the genus Protoribates (Oribatida, Haplozetidae) are described from litter and soil in Indonesia. Protoribates prolamellatussp. nov. differs from Protoribates lemensisErmilov & Tolstikov, 2015 by smaller body size, and the presence of monodactylous legs and short notogastral setae. Protoribates heinrichisp. nov. differs from all species of Protoribates by the presence of thick rostral and lamellar setae directed anteromedial and porose areas A3 located close to each other in the posterior part of the notogaster. Three other known species of Protoribates, P. bisculpturatus (Mahunka, 1988), P. cattienensisErmilov & Anichkin, 2011 and P. paracapucinus (Mahunka, 1988), are recorded in Indonesia for the first time.

Obtaining clean DNA from mites to be used in molecular studies has always been a challenging task. In this study, five protocols (CTAB-based handmade kit, salting out protocol, STE protocol, modified CTAB-based protocol and wizard Genomic DNA purification kit) were evaluated to extract DNA from Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) bagdasarjani. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the DNA concentrations and a comparison between the ratio of absorption of wavelength from 260 to 280 nm in a completely randomized split plot design for five extraction protocols and three levels of 1, 5, 10 mites were performed. PCR protocol was used to examine the amplification of the ITS1 fragment from the specimens. The results showed that wizard kit and CTAB modified protocol were the bests. However, economically, modified CTAB-based protocol is the best choice for extensive experiments, since this protocol allows extracting DNA from an individual mite and provides the highest concentration DNA (143.35±0.85ng) and the best OD (1.80±0.03) for molecular studies.

We found two species of oribatid mites from Babeldaob Island of Palau Republic, which is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. Eurhynchoribates brevisensillatus sp. nov. is proposed from mosses growing in the forest, and a diagnostic key to adults of all known species of Eurhynchoribates is provided. Another species, Basilobelba foliata Hammer, 1982 is reported for the first time from Palau, which was known previously from island of Bali, Indonesia. Following the descriptions and comparisons, we discuss aspects of the diversity, distribution and habitat ecology of species belonging to each genus.

As an important pest, Tetranychus urticae fed on thousands of host plants and showed strong capability in host adaptation. However, hardly any success artificial diet has been developed for it. In this study, we compared adult longevity and reproduction of T. urticae that fed on its natural food (bean leaves) and an artificial diet with leaf extracts added, and tried to investigate the reason why the artificial diet was inefficient through transcriptome analyses. Mean adult longevity and cumulative fecundities of T. urticae was reduced by 53.4% and 93.8%, respectively. Transcriptome analyses showed that 1731 genes were differentially expressed comparing individuals fed with the artificial diet and with their natural food, among which most (77.1%) were down regulated. No significant induced expression of xenobiotic transporters and detoxification enzymes were observed when T. urticae were fed with the artificial diet. In contrast, differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in digestive related terms, especially in lipid metabolism related pathways, with most genes down regulated. Our results indicated the significance in further investigating lipid demand and metabolism of T. urticae to improve its mass rearing techniques.

A new vagrant eriophyoid mite species of the archaic genus Pentasetacus (Schliesske 1985), P. novozelandicusn. sp., is described with the aid of conventional microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It was found on Araucaria heterophylla, which is an araucarian that is endemic to Norfolk Island and introduced to New Zealand. Partial sequences of mitochondrial barcode COI gene and D1–D2 domains of nuclear rDNA of two pentasetacid mites, P. araucariae (MK903025 and MK898944) and P. novozelandicusn. sp. (MK903024 and MK898943) are provided. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of full-length D1–D2 eriophyoid sequences, including GenBank sequences and newly generated sequences of pentasetacids, confirmed the monophyly of Pentasetacidae but failed to resolve the basal phylogeny of Eriophyoidea. This may be because the D1–D2 domains of 28S are hypervariable in Eriophyoidea. Moreover, in pentasetacids D1–D2 sequences are about 20% shorter than in other eriophyoids, and thus harder to align. Two types of anal lobes are described in Eriophyoidea: (1) Eriophyidae s.l. and Phytoptidae s.l. have bilaterally symmetric lobes; (2) pentasetacids have non-divided lobes. The presence of an anal secretory apparatus, comprising internal structures that have previously been described in Eriophyidae s.l. and Phytoptidae s.l., is confirmed in pentasetacid genera. The phylogeny of pentasetacids is also discussed in the context of the paleobiography of Araucariaceae.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of birch pollen (Betula pendula Roth.) on the efficacy of the predatory mite Kampimodromus aberrans (Oudemans) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as a biological control agent for the two spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) at different predator release ratios. The experiments were conducted on apple cv. Golden Delicious at 1:5, 1:15 and 1:30 predator-prey release ratios in a climate room (25±2°C, 65±10% RH and 16:8 L:D). The predatory mites were also offered pollen grains daily (0.5-0.10 mg/leaf) on the apple seedling during the experiments. One week after the release of K. aberrans, significant reductions in T. urticae density were observed at a ratio of 1:5; and the density remained at low levels thereafter, especially in the pollen experiments. The highest mean numbers of T. urticae in the control group (no predator release) were observed in week 3 with 4067 mites per leaf and 4922 mites per leaf, respectively for the pollen and no pollen application plots. This study demonstrates the potential of K. aberrans to effectively control T. urticae at ratios of 1:5 and 1:15 within three weeks, especially at a ratio of 1:5 when the pollen was added. Furthermore, releasing K. aberrans at the appropriate time and ratio enabled more successful control of T. urticae populations and plant damage, and subsequently kept the mites at low levels.

In a survey on the edaphic mesostigmatic mites in mangrove forests of Qeshm Island, eastern of the Persian Gulf, two species of the family Ascidae were collected in broken cockleshells and sand in littoral zone: Leioseius sepidehaesp. nov. and Protogamasellus mica (Athias-Henriot, 1961). This is the first record of the genus Leioseius from Iran. Leioseius sepidehaesp. nov. is described from adult females. Intraspecific variations of some characters of P. mica are discussed, and based on those, P. primitivus machadoi Genis, Loots & Ryke, 1967 and P. primitivus similis Genis, Loots & Ryke, 1967 are herein synonymized under P. mica. Finally, the occasional presence of the gland pores gv1 in Ascidae is reviewed, and a key to the Iranian genera and species of Ascidae is presented.