New species of Mites found living on Pings
Robert St-Jean (robert.st-jean@es2.es.emr.ca)
Fri, 18 Aug 1995 09:13:45 -0400
I saw on the Discovery Channel this
morning that Scientists have just recently
discovered a new type of mite that lives on
the surface of a certain Ping species. They
are about .5 mm in lenght and a fraction of
that in height. Because of their size they
can avoid brushing against the digestive
parts of the leaf hairs. Scientists do not
believe that the mites harm the plants. It is
believed that the insect benefits from
protection from insect predators. In return
the plant may get protection from certain
fungi species as the contents of some of
the mites stomachs contained some fungi.
Rob in Ottawa