The occurrence of Schizotetranychus baltazari Rimando (Acari: Tetranychidae) in Japan.

Abstract

Schizotetranychus baltazari Rimando was originally described by Rimando (1962a) based on specimens collected from Citrus in the Philippines. Thereafter, this species has been known mainly from a wide range of the Southeast and Southwest Asia: Hong Kong, Myanmar, India (Manson, 1963), Taiwan (Lo and Hsia, 1968), Thailand (Ehara and Wongsiri, 1975) and Indonesia (Ehara, 2004), but it has hitherto been unrecorded from Japan. Recently specimens of S. baltazari were found by us on a wild plant, Mallotus japonicus (Thunb.) Muell. Arg., in Wakayama Pref., Central Japan. This is the first record of S. baltazari from Japan. Morphological and biological features based on the Japanese population are noted below.The setal nomenclature used in this paper follows Lindquist's (1985) system. The measurements are given in micrometers. The present specimens are retained in the collection of the Kyoto University Museum and in Ohashi's private collection.