Aceria Explained

Aceria is a genus of mites belonging to the family Eriophyidae, the gall mites. These tiny animals are parasites of plants. Several species can cause blistering and galls, including erineum galls.^[1] A few are economically significant pests, while others are useful as agents of biological pest control of invasive plants such as rush skeletonweed (Chondrilla juncea), creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense), and field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis).

There are over 900 species in the genus.^[2])

In 2017, a new species, Aceria pycnocomi was found on Pycnocomon rutifolium in Spain.^[3]

Selected species

• Aceria aloinis  - aloe mite
• Aceria anthocoptes rust mite, russet mite
• Aceria baccharices Arroyo willow mite
• Aceria banatica ^[4]
• Aceria bipedis
• Aceria brachytarsus
• Aceria calaceris  - western maple erineum mite
• Aceria calystegiae
• Aceria campestricola
• Aceria capreae
• Aceria carmichaeliae
• Aceria chondrillae  - skeletonweed gall mite, chondrilla gall mite
• Aceria clianthi
• Aceria cynodoniensis
• Aceria depressae
• Aceria diospyri
• Aceria elongata  - crimson erineum mite
• Aceria erinea
• Aceria eriobotryae
• Aceria ficus
• Aceria fraxini  - ash bead gall mite
• Aceria fraxiniflora (Felt, 1906)  - ash flower gall mite
• Aceria fraxinicola
• Aceria fraxinivora
• Aceria gallae
• Aceria genistae  - broom gall mite
• Aceria gersoni
• Aceria gleicheniae
• Aceria guerreronis
• Aceria hagleyensis
• Aceria healyi
• Aceria iteina
• Aceria jasmini
• Aceria jasminoidis
• Aceria korelli
• Aceria kuko
• Aceria labiatiflorae (syn. A. oregani)
• Aceria lanyuensis
• Aceria litchii
• Aceria litseae
• Aceria lycopersici
• Aceria mackiei
• Aceria malherbae  - bindweed gall mite
• Aceria mangiferae
• Aceria manukae
• Aceria mayae
• Aceria melicopis
• Aceria melicyti
• Aceria microphyllae
• Aceria mikaniae
• Aceria monoica
• Aceria nervisequa
• Aceria oleae
• Aceria parvensis
• Aceria pimeliae
• Aceria pipturi
• Aceria plagianthi
• Aceria pobuzii
• Aceria pseudoplatani
• Aceria roxburghianae
• Aceria rubifaciens
• Aceria sacchari
• Aceria serratifoliae
• Aceria sheldoni  - citrus bud mite
• Aceria shepherdiae
• Aceria simonensis
• Aceria spicati
• Aceria strictae
• Aceria sylvestrae
• Aceria taiwanensis
• Aceria tenuifolii
• Aceria titirangiensis
• Aceria tosichella
• Aceria tulipae
• Aceria victoriae
• Aceria waltheri
• Aceria virosae
• Aceria yushania
• Aceria zoysima

Notes and References

1. Huang, K. . 2008 . Aceria (Acarina: Eriophyoidea) in Taiwan: five new species and plant abnormalities caused by sixteen species . . 1829 . 1–30 . PDF excerpt.
2. Magud. Biljana D. Stanisavljević. Ljubiša Ž. Petanović. Radmila U. Morphological variation in different populations of Aceria anthocoptes (Acari: Eriophyoidea) associated with the Canada thistle, Cirsium arvense, in Serbia. Experimental and Applied Acarology. 2017. 42. 3. 173–183. 1572-9702. 10.1007/s10493-007-9085-y. 17611806.
3. Ripka . Géza . Sánchez . Iñigo . A new Aceria species (Acari: Eriophyidae) from Spain on Pycnocomon rutifolium (Dipsacaceae) and supplementary descriptions of Aceria eucricotes and A. kuko from Lycium spp. (Solanaceae) . Zootaxa . March 2017 . 4244 . 2 . 195 . 10.11646/zootaxa.4244.2.2.
4. Vidovic, B. (2011). A new Aceria species (Acari: Eriophyoidea) on Echinops ritro L. subsp. ruthenicus (M.Bieb.) Nyman (Asteraceae) from Serbia and a supplement to the original description of Aceria brevicincta (Nalepa 1898). Zootaxa 2796, 56–66.