CPHST’s
Identification Technology Program (ITP) is pleased to announce the release of
its latest identification tool, Flat Mites of the World. This tool is
aimed at enhancing our diagnostic capabilities for key taxa and to ultimately
allow plant protection and quarantine services to develop rapid solutions to
serious biosecurity threats.
Flat mites remain one of the most
economically significant of all acarine groups. All species are phytophagous
and the species that have been identified as pests have shown the potential to
cause severe economic damage to agricultural crops, ornamentals, and timber.
They cause damage directly through feeding on host plant tissue and indirectly
through the transmission of plant viruses.
Flat Mites of the World will help you identify, via interactive
keys, diagnostic fact sheets, and an image gallery, the 36 genera of flat mites
present throughout the world, including specific diagnostics for 13 species of Raoiella,
14 species of Brevipalpus, and Tenuipalpus pacificus.
The resource can be accessed at: idtools.org/id/mites/flatmites/
