Page 10 - Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2013

Kapaxidi

8

lie to the side of the midrib between the lat-

eral veins; the erineum growths miss the

small secondary veins and appear as thick-

ened partitions. The erineum is particularly

characteristic in that each structure is cov-

ered with short, minute, unicellular hairs. Al-

though erineum patches are fewer on the

leaves, they are easily recognized because

of their size and color.

Aceria tristriatus (Nalepa) [Phytoptus tris-

triatus Nalepa, Eriophyes tristriatus (Nale-

pa)]

Common name: persian walnut leaf gall/

blister mite

Damage: It infests leaves, preferably young

and produces small, brown, hard pustules

that are about 1¼ mm in diameter. The

mites place these galls along midribs and

larger lateral veins, but in heavy infestations

blisters occur elsewhere. Badly galled leaves

are twisted and misshapen (Castagnioli and

Oldfield, 1996).

Cecidophyopsis vermiformis (Nalepa) [Phy-

toptus vermiformis Nalepa, Cecidophyes

vermiformis (Nalepa), Eriophyes vermi-

formis (Nalepa)]

Damage:

It is found on common hazel tree

usually in association with

Phytoptus avella-

nae

. It is considered of no economic impor-

tance.

Coptophylla lamimani (Keifer) [Phyllocop-

tes lamimani Keifer]

Damage: It lives as leaf vagrant on under-

side of hazel nut leaves causing no evident

symptoms. It is considered of no economic

importance.

Phytoptus avellanae Nalepa [Phytocop-

tella avellanae (Nalepa)]

Syn:

Acarus pseudogalarum

Vallot [

Phytoptus

pseudogalarum

(Vallot)]

Phytoptus coryli

Frauenfeld

Phytoptus coryligallorum

Targioti-Tozzeti

[

Eriophyes

coryligallorum

(Targioti-Tozzeti)]

Common name: filbert bud mite

Damage: This species is considered as a mi-

nor pest of cultivated hazelnut. It produces

bud galls, known as big buds, consisting of

an aggregation of swollen, thickened scale

leaves, often containing hundreds of mites.

Their feeding activities suppress the devel-

oping young leaves or inflorescences closed

within the scales. Eventually the enlarged

buds become dark and reddish brown as

the immature.

Aceria pistaciae (Nalepa) [Eriophyes pist-

aciae Nalepa]

Common name: pistachio bud mite

Damage: Lives on pistachio and turpentine

trees causing flower stalk brooming and

some leaf deformation on certain pistachio

species. The brooms are reddish and notice-

able.

Eriophyoids of Olive tree

Aceria cretica Hantzinikolis

Damage: The mite is found on the under leaf

surfaces causing subcircular patches (Hatz-

inikolis, 1989). It is a species that is reported

only from Crete Island.

Aceriaolea (Nalepa) [Eriophyes oleae Nale-

pa, Phytoptus oleae (Nalepa)]

Common name: olive bud mite

Damage: This mite is a pest of all varieties of

olive in the Mediterranean area and is espe-

cially injurious to young trees or the trees that

have pollarded. It causes leaf and fruit defor-

mation, and seriously reduces the amount

and quality of olives available for pickling. As

the result of mite infestations and due to the

distraction of the normal silvery stellate hairs,

mature leaves may show subcircular, irregu-

lar greenish patches that turn brown as ne-

crosis progresses. These patches may bulge

out as small chlorotic areas above the gener-

al leaf surface, giving the leaf an embossed

appearance. In heavy infestations, the mites

extend their feeding to leaf margins, which

results in deformations. Damage on young

fruit first appears as silvering, then browning

and ends in fruit deformation. Mites congre-

gate in large numbers at the stem end of the

fruit, and find shelter under sepal rudiments.

Most damage to fruit is confined to the stem.