Web mite Schizotetranychus krungthepensis on sugarcane in India: molecular evidence for occurrence and the way forward

Following the detection of an incongruity in the nomen-clature of sugarcane web mite Schizotetranychus andropogoni (Hirst) (Acari: Tetranychidae), we collected web mite samples from commercial hybrids of sugarcane and Saccharum spontaneum in parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala States, India. Acarologists identified these samples as Schizotetranychus krungthepensis Naing & Auger (Acari: Tetranychidae), originally described from Thailand in 2014. To provide molecular evidence to distinguish S. krungthepensis from S. andropogoni , we subjected sequences of 5.8S rRNA and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) genes of both species available in NCBI database to Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (MEGA6). The analysis produced phylogenetic trees with distinct clusters for S. andropogoni and S. krungthepensis , albeit with some exceptions, thus provi-ding evidence to consider S. krungthepensis a species distinctly different from S. andropogoni . In view of the possible threat of S. krungthepensis to sugarcane culti-vation in the country, we outline the basic course of action needed to manage the pest if it were to assume more serious proportions than the native species it appears to be displacing.