Petrobia Tunisiae

''Petrobia'' is a genus in Tetranychidae (spider mites), containing 34 described species. It includes some pest species.

Description

''Petrobia'' mites can be recognised by their reddish-brown cuticle, dark body contents and the first leg pair being very long. Each leg ends in pad-like claws and a hooked (uncinate) empodium with more than 1 pair of tenent hairs. The prodorsum of the body has three pairs of setae (''ve'', ''sci'', ''sce'') and there are no prominent lobes over the gnathosoma. The paranal setae (''h2-3'') are in a ventral position.

The genus is usually divided into three subgenera: ''Mesotetranychus'', ''Petrobia'' and ''Tetranychina'' (sometimes one or more of these are considered separate genera). ''Mesotetranychus'' has simple peritremes whereas ''Petrobia'' has anastomosing peritremes. ''Tetranychina'' usually has long dorsal setae on small tubercles (other subgenera sometimes have tubercles as well, but their dorsal setae are short).

Reproduction

Species of ''Petrobia'' may reproduce either sexually (e.g. ''P. harti'') or asexually (e.g. ''P. latens'').

In ''P. harti'', males make up 10% or less of field populations. Eggs are laid on the ventral surfaces of host plant leaves.

''Petrobia latens'', on the other hand, has only female individuals. Females lay their eggs parthenogenetically on soil and under stones.

Pests

Several ''Petrobia'' species are polyphagous plant pests, meaning they attack a wide range of plants:

* ''Petrobia apicalis'' attacks onions and various legumes in Europe and the United States.
* ''Petrobia harti'' attacks various weeds (especially '' Oxalis'' spp.) and also fruit and ornamental plants. It has been dispersed to most of the world.
* ''Petrobia latens'' attacks various fruit, vegetable and grain crops. It is one of the few spider mites proven to transmit barley yellow streak mosaic virus.
* ''Petrobia tunisiae'' attacks grains and chrysanthemum in Iran and the Mediterranean region.

Species

These 34 species belong to the genus ''Petrobia'':

* '' Petrobia apicalis'' Banks, 1917 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia barkolensis'' Wang & Cui, 1992 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia brevipes'' Reck & Bagdasarian, 1949 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia californica'' Baker & Tuttle, 1994 ^{c g}
* '' Petrobia cardi'' Chaudhri, 1972 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia carthagensis'' Auger & Flechtmann, 2009 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia donnalucatensis'' Vacante, 1983 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia dzhulfaensis'' Bagdasarian, 1960 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia enodis'' Meyer, 1987 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia haematoxylon'' Meyer, 1987 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia harti'' (Ewing, 1909) ^{c g b}
* ''Petrobia hemerocallis'' Wang, 1982 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia hispaniola'' ^g
* ''Petrobia jingheensis'' Ma & Gao, 1991 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia latens'' (Müller, 1776) ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia layyahensis'' Sabri & Afzal, 2008 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia lippiae'' Baker & Tuttle, 1994 ^{c g}
* '' Petrobia lupini'' McGregor, 1950 ^{c g}
* '' Petrobia lycopersici'' Zaher, Gomaa & El-Enany, 1982 ^{c g}
* '' Petrobia marsai'' Manson, 1964 ^{c g}
* '' Petrobia mexicana'' Baker & Tuttle, 1983 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia moutiai'' Baker & Pritchard, 1960 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia nocitus'' Chaudhri, 1972 ^{c g}
* '' Petrobia phaceliae'' Tuttle & Baker, 1964 ^{c g}
* '' Petrobia prasadi'' Baker & Tuttle, 1994 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia pseudotetranychina'' Auger & Flechtmann, 2009 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia tribulus'' Chaudhri, 1972 ^{c g}
* '' Petrobia tunisiae'' Manson, 1964 ^{c g}
* '' Petrobia uncata'' (Flechtmann & Moraes, 1991) ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia vachushtii'' Reck, 1948 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia waltheriae'' Tuttle, Baker & Abbatiello, 1974 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia xerophila'' Mitrofanov, 1975 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia xinjiangensis'' Tan & Wang, 1992 ^{c g}
* ''Petrobia zachvatkini'' Reck & Bagdasarian, 1949 ^{c g}

Data sources: i = ITIS,
c = Catalogue of Life, g = GBIF, b = Bugguide.net

Identification

Key to subgenera and to world species of subgenus ''Petrobia''

Key to world species of subgenus ''Mesotetranychus''

References

Further reading

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External links

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{{Taxonbar, from=Q10625201

Trombidiformes