The tetranychid mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) of Kenya and a redescription of the species Peltanobia erasmusi Meyer (Acari: Tetranychidae) based on males

Abstract

This paper reports 18 tetranychid mite species (Acari: Tetranychidae) from various plant hosts in Kenya. Four species of these belong to the subfamily Bryobiinae and the other 14 belong to the subfamily Tetranychinae. Eight of the mite species identified belong to the genera Bryobia, Petrobia, Peltanobia, Paraplonobia, Duplanychus, Eutetranychus and Mixonychus and are being reported for the first time in Kenya while the other ten had already been reported before. The paper provides a list of these species and their brief descriptions as well as a redescription of Peltanobia erasmusi Meyer (Acari: Tetranychidae) to include male characters that were not included in the original description.