Morphology and ultrastructure of Tetranychus turkestani Ugarov & Nikolskii (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Abstract

Tetranychus turkestani is a serious pest of cotton, corn, vegetables, fruit trees and forests in Xinjiang. All life stages of T. turkestani were observed using both light and scanning electron microscope. The egg is smooth and spherical. The eupathidial spinnerets of larva and protonymph are different from that of the deutonymph and adult in shape. The spinneret of adult female is obviously thicker and larger than that in male. The palpfemoral seta of adult male is a short, stout, spine-like process. T. turkestani has fourteen pairs of dorsal setae. The number of ventral setae increases regularly in number in each molt. The leg chaetotaxy has a great change from larva to deutonymph.