Eriophyoid mites (Acari: Prostigmata: Eriophyoidea) from the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean): new reports and a preliminary check-list

Abstract

In the 20th Century, about 20 species of eriophyoids were listed for the Maltese Islands but these reports were entirely based on plant gall surveys. In these last four years, plant collections were made in order to investigate the species of eriophyoids present in Malta and Gozo. Most of the earlier reports have been confirmed and eight species were found to be new for the Maltese islands: Aceria caulobia (Nalepa) gall-making on Suaeda vera Gmelin; Aceria onychia (Nalepa) on Phlomis fruticosa L.; Aceria sheldoni (Ewing) on lemon; Aculus tetanothrix (Nalepa) gall-making on Salix sp.; Cecidophyopsis hendersoni (Keifer) on yucca; and three species associated with olive, Ditrymacus athiasella Keifer, Oxycenus maxwelli (Keifer) and Tegolophus hassani ( Keifer). Additional remarks were included for Acalitus phloeocoptes (Nalepa), collected on cherry plum, whose earlier Maltese record was doubtful. A complete morphometric description of Aceria carlinae (Nalepa) is here provided.