LAUSR

The Tetranychidae family distributed worldwide has 1,321 species of mites known on 3,917 plants (Migeon and Dorkeld 2019) in more than 70 genera of two subfamilies, Bryobinae and Tetranychinae. Most agricultural pests are Tetranychinae (Zhang 2003, Hoy 2011). Migeon and Dorkeld (2019) mentioned 154 species in the genus Tetranychus Dufour (Trombidiformes: Tetranychidae) throughout the world. Red spider, Tetranychus merganser Boudreaux, is an important agricultural pest worldwide. The mite distributed in China, USA, Australia, and Mexico has been reported on apocynaceous, aquifoliaceous, cactaceous, caricaceous, cucurbitaceous, euphorbiaceous, leguminoseous, moringaceous, oleaceous, ranunculaceous, rosaceous, and solanaceous plants (Chacó-Hernández et al. 2020). Feeding by mites destroys epidermal tissue, parenchyma, and chloroplasts of leaves of host plants and is observed as small white spots near leaf veins, and with severe infestation, the spots can fuse, covering all the leaf (López 2014, López-Bautista et al. 2016, Montelongo-Ruíz et al. 2020). This scientific note reports two new hosts of T. merganser: Helietta parvifolia Gray Benth (Rutaceae) and Pittosporum tobira (Thunb.) W.T. Aiton (Pittosporaceae) in Tamaulipas State, México. H. parvifolia was observed in Peregrina Canyon in Protected Natural Area “Altas Cumbres” (23° 46' 41'' N y 99° 12' 12'' W, 365 m above sea level) where 50 leaves were collected on 10 January 2020. The second host, P. tobira, was in an urban area of Victoria City (23° 42' 54'' N y 99° 10' 48'' W, 448 m above sea level) where 30 leaves were collected on 1 February 2020. Leaves of H. parvifolia and P. tobira damaged by mites were observed with a 30-x magnifying loupe. Specimens of mites were preserved in 70% alcohol and transported to the Population Ecology Laboratory of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas at Victoria City, Tamaulipas State, Mexico. Forty-five mites were collected from H. parvifolia leaves and 20 mites from