Eriophyoid Mites: Progress and Prognoses

This collection of 14 papers comprises primary research articles and literature reviews, presenting a broad overview of the developments in about all possible aspects of members of the plant parasitic superfamily Eriophyoidea. It deals with their DNA, species interactions, quarantine importance, host specificity, potential as biological control agents of weeds, chemical control, behaviour, their role in fungal pathogen epidemiology, influence in forests and on ornamentals, collecting and mounting techniques and their interaction with crops. Eriophyoids are notorious for the deformities, like, galls, erinea, leaf-rolls and rust, they can produce while feeding on their plant hosts. However, they can also act as vectors of viral diseases or are vagrants, mainly responsible for rust symptoms. Therefore the Eriophyoidea includes many economical important species responsible for great losses to crop production in greenhouses, agriculture and forests. Their minuteness and ability to produce their own hide-outs (deformities) complicate their control. However, they also have a beneficial side, as control agents of weeds. Almost every plant housed at least one eriophyoid species or even two or more and therefore there are still thousands of new species to be discovered.