van der Geest L P, Elliot S L, Breeuwer J A, Beerling E A
lnstitute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Exp Appl Acarol. 2000 Jul;24(7):497-560. doi: 10.1023/a:1026518418163.
An overview is given of studies on diseases of mites. Knowledge of diseases of mites is still fragmentary but in recent years more attention has been paid to acaropathogens, often because of the economic importance of many mite species. Most research on mite pathogens concerns studies on fungal pathogens of eriophyoids and spider mites especially. These fungi often play an important role in the regulation of natural mite populations and are sometimes able to decimate populations of phytophagous mites. Studies are being conducted to develop some of these fungi as commercial acaricides. Virus diseases are known in only a few mites, namely, the citrus red mite and the European red mite. In both cases, non-occluded viruses play an important role in the regulation of mite populations in citrus and peach orchards, respectively, but application of these viruses as biological control agents does not seem feasible. A putative iridovirus has been observed in association with Varroa mites in moribund honeybee colonies. The virus is probably also pathogenic for honeybees and may be transmitted to them through this parasitic mite. Few bacteria have been reported as pathogens of the Acari but in recent years research has been concentrated on intracellular organisms such as Wolbachia that may cause distorted sex ratios in offspring and incompatibility between populations. The role of these organisms in natural populations of spider mites is in particular discussed. The effect of Bacillus thuringiensis on mites is also treated in this review, although its mode of action in arthropods is mainly due to the presence of toxins and it is, therefore, not considered to be a pathogen in the true sense of the word. Microsporidia have been observed in several mite species especially in oribatid mites, although other groups of mites may also be affected. In recent years, Microsporidia infections in Phytoseiidae have received considerable attention, as they are often found in mass rearings of beneficial arthropods. They affect the efficacy of these predators as biological control agent of insect and mite pests. Microsporidia do not seem to have potential for biological control of mites.
本文概述了有关螨类疾病的研究。目前对螨类疾病的了解仍然支离破碎，但近年来，由于许多螨类物种具有经济重要性，人们对螨类病原体给予了更多关注。大多数关于螨类病原体的研究尤其关注瘿螨和叶螨的真菌病原体。这些真菌通常在螨类自然种群的调控中发挥重要作用，有时能够使植食性螨类种群数量大幅减少。目前正在开展研究，以将其中一些真菌开发成商业杀螨剂。仅在少数螨类中发现了病毒病，即柑橘全爪螨和苹果全爪螨。在这两种情况下，非包涵体病毒分别在柑橘园和桃园螨类种群的调控中发挥重要作用，但将这些病毒用作生物防治剂似乎并不可行。在濒死的蜂群中，已观察到一种假定的虹彩病毒与瓦螨有关。这种病毒可能也对蜜蜂致病，并可能通过这种寄生螨传播给蜜蜂。很少有细菌被报道为蜱螨亚纲的病原体，但近年来研究集中在细胞内生物，如沃尔巴克氏体，其可能导致后代性别比例失调以及种群间的不相容性。本文特别讨论了这些生物在叶螨自然种群中的作用。本综述还探讨了苏云金芽孢杆菌对螨类的影响，尽管其在节肢动物中的作用方式主要归因于毒素的存在，因此从严格意义上讲它不被视为病原体。已在几种螨类中观察到微孢子虫，尤其是在甲螨中，不过其他螨类群体也可能受到影响。近年来，植绥螨科中的微孢子虫感染受到了相当多的关注，因为它们常在有益节肢动物的大量饲养中被发现。它们会影响这些捕食者作为昆虫和螨类害虫生物防治剂的效能。微孢子虫似乎没有用于螨类生物防治的潜力。
