A pest is any animal or plant harmful to humans or human concerns. The term is particularly used for creatures that damage crops, livestock, and forestry or cause a nuisance to people, especially in their homes. Humans have modified the environment for their own purposes and are intolerant of other creatures occupying the same space when their activities impact adversely on human objectives. Thus, an elephant is unobjectionable in its natural habitat but a pest when it tramples crops.
Spider mites are members of the Acari (mite) family Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. They generally live on the undersides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, and they can cause damage by puncturing the plant cells to feed. Spider mites are known to feed on several hundred species of plants.
Solanum quitoense, known as Naranjilla in Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Panama and as Lulo in Colombia, is a tropical perennial plant from northwestern Colombia. The specific name for this species of nightshade means "from Quito."
Viburnum tinus is a species of flowering plant in the family Adoxaceae, native to the Mediterranean area of Europe and North Africa. Laurus signifies the leaves' similarities to bay laurel.
Citrus australasica, the Australian finger lime or caviar lime, is a thorny understorey shrub or small tree of lowland subtropical rainforest and rainforest in the coastal border region of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.
Cecidophyopsis ribis is an eriophyid mite which is best known for being a plant parasite, a pest of Ribes species, the genus that includes gooseberries and blackcurrants.
Acalitus essigi, the redberry mite,, is an eriophyid mite which is a serious pest of commercially produced blackberries in the United States. The redberry mite is microscopic, requiring at least a 20× hand lens to detect. It has two pairs of legs and a thin, translucent appearance.
Psylla pyri, commonly known as the pear psylla or pear psyllid, is a true bug in the family Psyllidae. Originating in Europe and Asia, it has spread to North America. It is a pest of pear trees, sucking the sap, damaging the foliage, flowers and fruit and diminishing the crop.
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. A few are economically significant pests, while others are useful as agents of biological pest control of invasive plants such as rush skeletonweed, creeping thistle, and field bindweed.
A pheromone trap is a type of insect trap that uses pheromones to lure insects. Sex pheromones and aggregating pheromones are the most common types used. A pheromone-impregnated lure, as the red rubber septa in the picture, is encased in a conventional trap such as a bottle trap, Delta trap, water-pan trap, or funnel trap. Pheromone traps are used both to count insect populations by sampling, and to trap pests such as clothes moths to destroy them.
Prays parilis, the lemon bud moth, is a moth of the family Plutellidae. The species was first described by Alfred Jefferis Turner in 1923. It is found in Australia, New Zealand and the Cook Islands.
Prays nephelomima, the citrus flower moth, is a moth of the family Plutellidae. It is found in Australia. It was first recorded as being present in New Zealand in 1975.
Phytoptus avellanae is an acarine gall-mite species inducing big bud galls of up to 10 millimetres (0.39 in) across, sometimes slightly open, on the buds of hazel and on filbert. Synonyms include Phytocoptella avellanae, Eriophyes avellanae, Calycophthora avellanae, Phytoptus coryli, Phytoptus pseudogallarum, and Acarus pseudogallarum. The mites are white, about 0.3 mm long, with numerous tergites and sternites. Two forms of P. avellanae exist, a gall causer and a vagrant form that has a more complex life-cycle and does not form galls.
Brevipalpus phoenicis, also known as the false spider mite, red and black flat mite, and in Australia as the passionvine mite, is a species of mite in the family Tenuipalpidae. This species occurs globally, and is a serious pest to such crops as citrus, tea, papaya, guava and coffee, and can heavily damage numerous other crops. They are unique in having haploid females, a condition caused by a bacterium that change haploid males into females.
Brevipalpus is a genus of mites in the family Tenuipalpidae, the flat mites. The genus includes several species that are among the most important economic pests in the flat mite family.
Citrus black spot is a fungal disease caused by Guignardia citricarpa. This Ascomycete fungus affects citrus plants throughout subtropical climates, causing a reduction in both fruit quantity and quality. Symptoms include both fruit and leaf lesions, the latter being critical to inter-tree dispersal. Strict regulation and management is necessary to control this disease since there are currently no citrus varieties that are resistant.
Dicyphus hesperus is a species of true bug in the family Miridae. It is a generalist predator of other insects and also feeds on plant tissues. It is native to North America and has been used there in biological control of agricultural pests, especially whitefly on tomatoes.
Aculops fuchsiae, commonly known as fuchsia gall mite, is a species of mite in the family Eriophyidae. It feeds on Fuchsia plants, causing distortion of growing shoots and flowers. It is regarded as a horticultural pest.
Hartford Hammond Keifer was a world authority on eriophyid mites. Based in California, he initially studied the local microlepidoptera before turning to mites in 1937.
