Citrus mites in Italy. VII. The family Tarsonemidae. Species collected and notes on ecology

The study deals with the complex of species belonging to the family Tarsonemidae Canestrini and Fanzago collected from the most important Citrus species in the principal citrus growing areas in Italy. The morphology of each species was studied, and each species was classified in agreement with the systematic view expressed by Lindquist (1986). The study involved the collection of twelve species, eleven of which belonged to the subfamily Tarsoneminae and to the tribe Tarsonemini. Of the collected Tarsonemini species, nine species were assigned to the genus Tarsonemus and to the subgenus Tarsonemus (T. smithi, T. aurantii, T. confusus, T. parawaitei, T. waitei, T. floricolus, T. idaeus, T. bilobatus and T. lobosus), one to the genus Daidalotarsonemus (D. vandevrieri), and one to the genus Fungitarsonemus (F. monasterii). The only Pseudotarsonemoidine was assigned to genus Polyphagotarsonemus (P. latus). The given list of Tarsonemini does not include T. bakeri and T. unguis, since the authors subsequently verified that the specimens identified as T. bakeri belonged to T.waitei and the ones identified as T. unguis were T. floricolus. Four new records (T. floricolus, T. idaeus, T. bilobatus and T. lobosus) on citrus in Italy are recorded.