Studies On Some Mites Associated With Certain Deciduous Fruit Trees At Sharkia Governorate

During the present work, nineteen of mite species belonging to eight families of subclass: Acari were surveyed from certain deciduous fruit trees at different localities in Sharkia governorate. The most distributed phytophagous mite species were Tetranychus urticae Koch. and Cenopalpus pulcher (C.& F.).The most dominant predacieous phytoseiid mite species were Euseius metwallyi Basha & Yousef and Typhlodromips capsicum Mostafa. The total developmental time from egg to adult for female and male of T. urticae when reared on pecan was longer than on persimmon which are important deciduous fruit crops in Egypt . Generation period of T. urticae female averaged 14.25 and 13.58 days, when fed on pecan and persimmon leaves, respectively in the laboratory. The fecundity and total longevity of T. urticae when reared on five deciduous fruit trees i. e. pear , pecan , persimmon , plum , pomegranate under laboratory condition showed that pear leaves were more preferable to the tetranychid mite T. urticae. The daily prey consumption and oviposition rates of E. metwallyi when fed on T. urticae females were significantly influenced by plant leaf surface. Adult females of E. metwallyi exhibited a type 2 of functional response to T. urticae. These results indicated that, E. metwallyi may be considered as biological control agent against the two-spotted spider mite T. urticae.