Population dynamics of phytophagous and predaceous mites on coffee in Brazil, with emphasis on Brevipalpus phoenicis (Acari: Tenuipalpidae)

Abstract

The objective of this work was to study the population dynamics of Brevipalpus phoenicis (Geijskes) and predaceous mites (Phytoseiidae and Stigmaeidae), as well as the interactions among these mite species, in a coffee plantation in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Tydeids were also evaluated because of the high frequency of these mites on coffee plants. Samples of leaves, branches and fruits were taken fortnightly, from April 2001 to June 2003, from plants randomly chosen in the coffee plantation. B. phoenicis mites were found on leaves in higher number during the drier periods of the year. Among the predaceous mites, Euseius citrifolius Denmark & Muma and Euseius concordis (Chant) were the most frequent species on the surface of leaves. During the evaluations, 72,534 domatia were cut and opened to remove the mites, from 6,360 leaves examined. Zetzellia malvinae Matioli, Ueckermann & Oliveira was the most frequent predator species found inside domatia. Significant correlations were observed between population dynamics of, among others, E. concordis and B. phoenicis, Z. malvinae and B. phoenicis, and Z. malvinae and E. concordis. Significant correlations were also verified between the number of domatia and the population densities of B. phoenicis, E. concordis, Lorryia sp. and Z. malvinae. Interactions between predator-prey and predator-predator on coffee plants are discussed. The influence of the meteorological factors temperature and precipitation on the most frequent mite species is also discussed.

Sub-lethal effects of fenbutatin oxide on prey location by the predatory mite Iphiseiodes zuluagai (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

“…Colonies of O. ilicis are found on the upper leaf surface; leaves may drop prematurely as a consequence of high infestations. The false spider mite B. phoenicis is found on both leaf surfaces at low population levels (Flechtmann 1983;Mineiro et al 2008) and may transmit coVee ringspot virus (Kitajima et al 2003, Mineiro et al 2008. The phytoseiid mite I. zuluagai is an important predator commonly associated with phytophagous mites in coVee plantations in Brazil (Pallini Filho et al 1992;Reis et al 2000).…”

A Snap-Shot of Domatial Mite Diversity of Coffea arabica in Comparison to the Adjacent Umtamvuna Forest in South Africa

“…The mites collected from the coffee plants belonged to the families Phytoseiidae, Stigmaeidae and Cunaxidae, and these are commonly found in leaf domatia all over the world. These are all predatory mites and mites from these families have previously been shown to be associated with coffee plantations [3,12]. Matos et al [19] found that coffee domatia had a positive effect on the abundance of predatory mites, and plants with higher densities of domatia harbour more predatory mites and fewer prey mites.…”

“…The mutualism with mites is important in coffee because it may provide some relief from one of the most important diseases of coffee plants, the coffee leaf rust fungus (Hemilleia vastatrix Berk and Boome), and also from phytophagous mites [8]. In Brazil, the top coffee-producing country in the world, these benefits are appreciated, and more studies are being undertaken in an attempt to understand the possible interactions among the different mite species found in coffee and the favourable environmental conditions for the predaceous mites on coffee plants, in order to improve their integrated pest management programs for coffee agroforest systems [12]. Furthermore, coffee plants may also benefit from an increased overall fitness due to a decrease in the damage caused by plant enemies.…”

“…In many countries that produce coffee, the coffee red mite, Oligonychus ilicis McGregor (Tetranychidae), is a common pest [3,8,13,14]. Even so, coffee leaves with healthy domatia have been shown to harbour more beneficial mites than pest mites [11,12,15]. In North Queensland, the majority of the mites found inside the domatia of coffee were primarily predatory from the families Stigmaeidae, Phytoseiidae and Bdellidae [3].…”

“…In North Queensland, the majority of the mites found inside the domatia of coffee were primarily predatory from the families Stigmaeidae, Phytoseiidae and Bdellidae [3]. In Brazil, predatory mites such as Euseius citrifolius Denmark and Muma and Euseius concordis (Chant) are associated with coffee, and these mites control the pest mites Brevipalpus phoenicis (Geijskes) and Oligonychus ilicis [12]. Even though these mites are currently not listed as pest mites in South Africa, their related species such as Oligonychus coffeae (Nietner) and Oligonychus mangiferus (Rahman and Sapra) are known pests.…”