Biodiversity and Seasonal abundance of Mites Associated with Two Varieties of Date Palm in Giza and Sohag Governorates, Egypt

Abstract

I 'q*".number of mites are known associated with different varieties of date palm throughout the world. Their distributional pattern is, however not constant eve4rwhere, which varies according to climatic factors. These mite species could be either Phytophagous, Parasitic, Predators, Phoresy in addition to" suproptugous and Fungivorous species' In this study 37 mite species representing 31 genera, 17 families, three Sub-ordeis, ictinedida; Gamasida and Acaridida were recorded. These mite species were c-lasiified according to their feeding habiis into four categories; plant feeders of both leaves and fruits, parasitic and predaceous that ptay irole as bioconirol ut"nir or different insect and mite pests and fungivorous as well as those of uncertain f""aing behavior. The poluiation fluctuation of the phyophagous mites; Eutetranychus orientol.is; oligonychus ajrasiaricus (Tetranychid:;;;; ";;;;i;" irri), PJ.wllo-tetrlnychus aegyptiacas Sayed (Tenuipalpidae) on sewi variery"was higher than o.r Zughtort variety as well as in Gila thq in Sohag during the two seasons, 2010-and,2011. The popiation oipredac"or, *a"furusitic mites associated with different pests infesting date palm increased.as well as the poiulation of pests increased. Therefore, the biocontrol agents suppress the populations of different pests in both varieties of date palrnin the two localities

Arthropods in Two Organic Agro-Ecosystems; Biodiversity, Distribution, and Weeds Impacts

“…The official Egyptian biodiversity website stated that there is more than 15,000 insect species and more than 1,500 arachnid species of mites, ticks, scorpions and spiders as terrestrial fauna, and more than 1,800 invertebrate species in aquatic fauna (Available at: https://www.egyptheritage.com/BiodiversitySite/Biodiversity/index.html). Nevertheless, some studies have revealed arthropod biodiversity in different Egyptian agro-ecosystems (Abo- Shnaf et al, 2008;Sallam et al, 2010;Sawaby, et al, 2010;El-Sanady and Mohamed, 2013;Imam and Sawaby, 2013 a & b;Zaki et al, 2015;Abd El-Karim, et al, 2016;Abo-Shnaf et al, 2016;Rizk, et al, 2017;Zaki and Aly, 2018;2019;Zaki and Abo-Shnaf, 2018;El-Sheikh, et al, 2020;Zaki, 2021). Also, genera of phylum Nematoda, Meloidogyne Göldi, 1889 was the most dominant genus, and Xiphinema Cobb, 1913 was the rarest genus recorded in SEKEM (Adam et al, 2013).…”