First record and characteristics of damage caused by the spider mite Tetranychus neocaledonicus André on peanuts in the State of Paraíba, Brazil

• Main Authors: Carlos Alberto Domingues da Silva, Manoel Guedes Correa Gondim Junior
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Agronômico de Campinas 2016-01-01
• Series: Bragantia
• Subjects: Tetranychidae; Arachis hypogaea; pest; neotropical region
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0006-87052016005006107&lng=en&tlng=en

ABSTRACT The red spider mite Tetranychus neocaledonicus André (Acari: Tetranychidae) is commonly found on cotton and castor bean in Brazil, especially in the northeast, but to date it had not been found damaging cultivated peanut. The objective of this research was to record the occurrence of this mite on peanut plants and describe its damage on this Fabaceae. The peanut plants, when infested by this mite, exhibit initially small whitish spots on the leaves, which quickly develop to chlorotic spots, followed by silvering, drying and fall because of their feeding. The severity of the damage caused to peanut and the adaptability of the mite to warm and dry conditions indicate that this species has potential as peanut pest in northeastern Brazil.