TY - JOUR JF - Acarologia T1 - Rhizoglyphus robini Claparede (Acari: Astigmata: Acaridae) as a soil mite VL - 26 IS - 4 SP - 371 EP - 380 PY - 1985 SN - 0044-586X SN - 2107-7207 PB - Les Amis d'Acarologia AU - Gerson, U. AU - Yathom, S. AU - Capua, S. AU - Thorens, D. UR - https://www1.montpellier.inrae.fr/CBGP/acarologia/article.php?id=2655 DA - 1985-11-29 KW - Pest of cultures KW - soil mite KW - Rhizoglyplius robini KW - Seasonal activity AB - Rhizoglyphus robini Claparede (Acari: Astigmata: Acaridae) has recently become a pest of onion and garlic in Israel. It often caused heavy damage in fields which had not been cultivated for many years, sometimes following manure applications. Field visits, answers to questionnaires and trapping data were used to follow the phenology of the pest in the soil. Most activity occurred during autumn, the mites becoming inactive as temperatures drop in winter. During spring and summer mites retreat to deeper soil layers, except in irrigated fields. No evidence for diapause was seen, and natural enemies were few and insignificant. Mite-harboring soils were quite variable in their characters. No mites were found in compound bulbs of garlic kept throughout the summer or in manure. When offered natural foods (manure, plant roots, macerated soil animais), R. robini thrived on most. It also withstood immersion in distilled water for five weeks and exposure to 6-8° C, and remained fertile. From these data it is postulated that R. robini is an indigenous soi! mite, an autochthonous species which had become more allochthonous in response to agricultural practices ER -