An Ultrastructural Study of the Relationship Between the Mite Floracarus perrepae Knihinicki & Boczek (Acariformes: Eriophyidae) and the Fern Lygodium microphyllum (Lygodiaceae)

Abstract

The ultrastructure of the mite Floracarus perrepae was investigated in relation to its host. Lygodium microphyllum, the Old World climbing fern. Floracarus perrepae has been suggested as a means of biological control for the fern, which is an aggressive weed in tropical areas. Feeding by the mite induces a change in the size of epidermal cells, and cell division is stimulated by mite feeding, causing the leaf margin to curl over into a roll with two to three windings. The enlarged epidermal layer greatly increases its cytoplasmic contents, which become a nutritive tissue for the mite and its progeny. Damage by the mite ultimately debilitates the fern. The structure and depth of stylet penetration by the mite, and the thickness of the epidermal cell wall of L. microphyllum, do not appear to account for the mite's differential ability to induce leaf rolling in its co-adapted host from south-east Queensland but not in the invasive genotype of the fern in Florida.