Biodiversity of spider mites of Ankara, with a checklist of the Tetranychinae and first report of Schizotetranychus ibericus Reck for Turkey (Acari: Prostigmata)

Abstract

The samples were collected at weekly intervals between April and October from 2011 to 2014 on rosaceous plants and Quercus trees in Ankara, Turkey. Twelve spider mite species (Acari: Tetranychidae), Amphitetranychus viennensis (Zacher), Schizotetranychus ibericus Reck, Tetranychus urticae Koch, T. turkestani (Ugarov & Nikolskii), Eoteteranychus populi (Koch), E. pruni (Oudemans), E. coryli Reck, E. tiliarium (Hermann) Panonychus ulmi (Koch) (Tetranychinae), Bryobia rubrioculus (Scheuten), B. praetiosa Koch and B. sp. (Bryobiinae) were identified in Ankara. Schizotetranychus ibericus Reck, 1947 is a new record for Turkey. Tetranychus urticae and A. viennensis occurred in all the sampling localities, while S. ibericus was collected only on a Quercus sp. (Fagaceae). Tetranychus urticae Koch (Tetranychidae) was the most abundant and common species while some other species were represented by only two specimens such as Eotetranychus populi and E. tiliarum (Hermann). Apple harbored the highest number of spider mite species (9) while Prunus mahaleb and Quercus had only 2 and 1 species, respectively. The preferred hosts plants were Malus domestica (1007), Prunus domestica (749) and Prunus avium (479), while Prunus armeniaca (164), Prunus mahaleb (66) and Quercus sp. (17) were less preferred hosts. Collection data and geographical distribution of these species are provided. The checklist of the previous identified Tetranychinae species of Turkey is provided.