A preliminary survey of the spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) in Latakia governorate of Syria

This paper reports ten tetranychid mites species on several cultivated and uncultivated plants in Latakia governorate (Syria) in 2011-2012. Three species belong to the subfamily Bryobiinae and to the genera Aplonobia, Bryobia and Petrobia, while seven species belong to the subfamily Tetranychinae and to the genera Eotetranychus, Eutetranychus, Panonychus and Tetranychus. Nine of the mite species identified in this study are reported for the first time from Syria, while one species had already been previously reported. This paper gives information concerning locations, host plants and distribution of each collected species.


INTRODUCTION
The family Tetranychidae Donnadieu is one of the most cosmopolitan and economically important families of the Acari (Bolland et al. 1998). It comprises 1,250 phytophagous species (Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013). Among them, more than 100 can be considered as pests and 10 as major pests of agricultural crops all over the world. In Syria, this family is poorly investigated despite the economic damages that theses mites can cause to different agricultural crops. The European red mite Panonychus ulmi (Koch) is the only species reported from this country in the world tetranychid catalog (Bolland et al. 1998) and in the Spider Mites Web database (Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013).
The knowledge of faunistic composition in a region is the first step in the establishment of effective control strategies. Thus the aim of this study was to identify tetranychid mites associated with several cultivated plants and natural vegetation covering different localities in the Latakia Governorate of Syria.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A survey of tetranychid mites was carried out from 27 September 2011 to 22 July 2012, in 41 localities in Latakia governorate in both cultivated fields and natural vegetation. Mites were directly collected from leaves and temporarily preserved in 70 % ethanol. Mites intact were mounted on slides in Hoyer's medium. The specimens were examined under a phase-contrast microscope (Nikon Eclipse E200).
Identification of mites to the genus level was made using the key to the spider mite genera of the world (Bolland et al., 1998). For species identification, all available published literature of tetranychid mites species description was used (e.g. Pritchard and Baker 1955;Baker and Pritchard 1960;Jeppson et al. 1975;Gutierrez and Helle 1983;Gutierrez and Schicha 1983;Meyer 1987;Ochoa et al. 1994;Ehara 1999;Flechtmann and Knihinicki 2002;Zhang et al. 2002;Auger et al. 2003;Zhang 2003;Toroitich et al. 2009;Vacante 2010;Seeman and Beard 2011). The terminology used for the body setation is according to Lindquist (1985). World distribution of each species and host range are according to Migeon andDorkeld (2006-2013). The specimens were deposited in the Arthropod Collection of the Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria.

Subfamily Bryobiinae Berlese Genus Bryobia Koch
Bryobia vasiljevi Reck, 1953Bryobia vasiljevi Reck, 1953Bryobia repensi Manson, 1967 It occurs on herbage, apple and strawberries (Jeppson et al. 1975). The mite feeds mainly on the upper leaf surface and may cause severe bleaching of the blade. The development of heavy infestations appears to be favored by extremely dry weather (Gutierrez and Schicha 1983).
World distribution and remarks -This species was recorded in New Zealand, Australia, Chile and many countries in Europe (Gutierrez and Schicha 1983;Migeon andDorkeld, 2006-2013) but not in Syria. This is the first report of B. vasiljevi in the Middle East.
The genus Oxalis is considered as its major host plant (Jeppson et al. 1975;Ehara 1999;Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013). In the field, the injury of this mite appears as fine silver stipples on leaves. It prefers the underside of leaves (Ochoa et al. 1994). World distribution and remarks -This mite has a worldwide distribution and occurs on wide range of plants. In the Middle East, this species is recorded in many countries and the earliest report was from Egypt by Sayed (1946), (In Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013).

Genus Aplonobia Womersly 1940
Aplonobia histricina (Berlese, 1910) Oxalis pes-caprae is the main plant host of this tetranychid mite but it was also collected on fruit trees in South Australia, New South Wales and South Africa (Gutierrez and Schicha 1983;Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013). Remarks -This species is known from South Africa, Australia and Italy, and infests pear Pyrus communis (Rosaceae), Sphaeralcea ambigua (Malvaceae) and Oxalis spp. (Oxalidaceae) The mite also occurs sporadically on citrus trees. It oversummers as eggs, and resumes development in the autumn (Vacante, 2010). It has been collected in Israel on O. pes-capreae (Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013). Males are unknown (Gutierrez and Schicha 1983) and females are relatively of a big size 900 -1050 µm.

Subfamily Tetranychidae Berlese Genus Eutetranychus Bank 1917
Eutetranychus orientalis (Klein, 1936) The oriental red mite Eutetranychus orientalis is considered as a major pest of citrus in the Afrotropical, Australasian and Palearctic regions (Meyer 1987;Ferragut et al. 2012). It has also been reported on members of other host families in many countries (Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013) Specimens examined -10 ♀♀ and 8 ♂♂ on World distribution and Remarks -Eutetranychus orientalis has a worldwide distribution (Bolland et al. 1998;Vacante 2010). It was reported before this survey on several plant species in many countries neighboring Syria as Jordan, Turkey and Cyprus (Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013).

Genus Eotetranychus Oudemans 1931
Eotetranychus rubiphilus (Reck, 1948) This species occurs on many plant species belonging to Rosaceae, especially Rubus sp. but it has also been recorded on Vitis sp. and Vitis vinifera. World distribution and Remarks -It has been reported from Europe and Asia (Gutierrez and Helle 1983;Migeon et al., 2007;Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013). This is the first report of this species in the Middle East.

Genus Panonychus Yokoyama 1929
Panonychus citri (McGregor, 1916) The citrus red mite Panonychus citri is a major pest of the world citrus causing serious damages (Vacante 2010), especially after using the broad-spectrum pesticides which killed its natural enemies (Kasap 2009). Latakia is the main citrus growing region of Syria and this species is one of the major pest in citrus orchard in this governorate. World distribution and Remarks -Panonychus citri has a worldwide distribution and was reported in many countries neighboring Syria (Bolland et al. 1998;Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013) before this study.

Panonychus ulmi (Koch, 1836)
The European red mite Panonychus ulmi has a wide range of hosts; it has been reported on 140 plant hosts (Bolland et al. 1998;Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013). Eggs are slightly flattened dorsally striated in a radial form, red with a dorsal stripe. It is a major pest of apple over the world as a result of moving with saplings (Jeppson et al. 1975;Ochoa et al. 1994). World distribution and Remarks -Panonychus ulmi has a worldwide occurrence, and was previously reported from Syria by Kady (1965). This species is a major pest in different apple growing regions of Syria.

Genus Tetranychus Dufour 1832
Tetranychus evansi Baker & Pritchard, 1960 The red tomato spider mite Tetranychus evansi was first reported from north-east Brazil in 1952 (Silva 1954), from where the species probably originated (Boubou et al. 2011, Boubou et al. 2012. This mite has recently emerged as a new threat to solanaceous crops in Africa and Mediterranean basin, with invasions characterized by a high reproductive output and an ability to withstand a wide range of temperatures (Bonato 1999, Boubou et al. 2011, Migeon et al. 2015. Remarks -Latakia is one of the main solanaceous crops growing regions of Syria and this mite represents certainly a real menace for agriculture in this region. Tetranychus turkestani (Ugarov and Nikolski, 1937) The color of the summer adult female of that species is variable but is often yellow-green. A large spot is always present on each side, beginning just behind the eye spots and extending beyond the middle of the body, with an occasional additional pair of posterior spots, one on each side toward the end of the hysterosoma (Jeppson et al. 1975;Seeman and Beard 2011). Tetranychus turkestani and T. urticae are very similar and without microscopic examination of the male aedeagus it is impossible to separate between them (Migeon 2005). In our collection, this species was found together with T. urticae on some sample (Trifolium sp, Tribulus terrestis and Ailanthus altissima). It is a serious pest of many crops throughout the world, mainly low-growing crops and has been recorded from 270 host plants over the world (Jeppson et al. 1975;Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013). Remarks -Tetranychus turkestani is a worldwide distributed species and was reported before this study from many countries in the Middle East.

Tetranychus urticae Koch 1836
The two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae, an ubiquitous species, is considered as one of the main phytophagous mites (Helle and Sabelis 1985). This species is the most polyphagous species of spider mites and the most economically injurious. It attacks around 1,094 plant species in 109 countries around the world. Among the 19 most important agricultural crops in the world, six (citrus, cotton, grapes, apples, beans, and papaya) were reported as being hosts of the two-spotted spider mite (Yaninek and Moraes 1991;Marčić et al. 2009). Remarks -Tetranychus urticae has a world distribution (109 countries around the world) and was reported before this study from many countries neighboring Syria (Migeon andDorkeld 2006-2013). In Syria, this species is a key pest in horticultural crops (outdoors and greenhouses). In this study, it was the dominant species and was found in all sites considered. Two forms of this species can be recognized by their green or red body color (Auger et al. 2013), the red form is dominant in our region and in addition, these two forms of that species were found together in the same population.

CONCLUSION
This paper is the first report of tetranychid mites from Syria.
Ten tetranychid species belonging to seven genera are reported in the present study. These mites were identified on 83 samples from different localities from Latakia governorate. Four samples contained more than one species of tetranychids on the same leaf. This occurred on Trifolium sp. (T. urticae and T. turkestani); on A. altissima (T. urticae and T. turkestani); on Malva sp. (T. turkestani and B. vasiljevi); on T. terrestris (T. urticae and T. turkestani). This study is the first step in a long way to identify phytophagous and predatory 307