Eriophyoid mites (Acari: Prostigmata) on common pear (Pyrus communis L.): species diversity and varietal attractiveness in the Fomin Botanical Garden (Kyiv, Ukraine)

Mites of the superfamily Eriophyoidea Nalepa, 1898, are important pests in agriculture and forestry worldwide (Lindquist et al. 1996; de Lillo et al. 2018). The high economic significance of fourlegged mites is associated with their ability to carry phytopathogens and cause the formation of various damages on plants, such as galls, "witch brooms", bud overgrowth, etc. (Sukhareva 1992). That is why many species of four-legged mites, along with spider mites, aphids and other plant pests, are included in the quarantine lists of phytosanitary control services around the world (Chetverikov et al. 2015). To date, about 5000 species of eriophyoids have been described, which, according to some researchers, is no more than 20% of their world diversity (Amrine et al. 2003). Most of the described species freely live on plants, and only 15–20% of the species live in natural shelters on the host or inside the galls they form. Microscopic size (100–200 microns) and the complexity of long-term maintenance of eriophyoids in plants make them very inconvenient objects for research. This fact significantly complicates the experimental work.