Abundance and Diversity of Mites Associated with Date Palm, Olive and Citrus Trees in Sakaka, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Mites are part of important functional groups inhabiting arboreal parts of plants and soil food webs. Recognizing these mites and understanding their function in the ecosystem as well as when they are active is essential to understand their roles. The present work studied the abundance and diversity of mites associated with date palm, olive and citrus trees in Sakaka, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during winter and spring seasons (December 2013 to May 2014).The recorded species associated with date palm, olive and citrus trees are classified according to the type of nutrition into three trophic groups: phytophagous, predaceous and miscellaneous mites. In total, 12 families, 13 genera and 13 mite species belonging to the four sub-orders Actinedida, Acaridida, Oribatida and Gamasida were recorded. The phytophagous mites were numerically dominant of three species belonging to two families. Whereas five species are predaceous mites belonging to five families. Moreover, the miscellaneous five species belonging to five families. Results obtained from this study revealed data about species recorded for the first time in Sakaka, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where there is a need for such information to support future environmental programs in integrated pest management to attain good and healthy agricultural product.