Dinámica poblacional de Raoiella indica Hirst (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) en cocotero (Cocos nucifera L.) en Guantánamo, Cuba.

Raoiella indica is recognized as a severe coconut pest in different regions of the world because of the damage it causes. Its presence in the largest production pole of the crop in Cuba has motivated the interest in studying the population dynamics of this mite in coconut plantations in the municipality of Baracoa, Guantánamo. For three years, 30 leaflets were sampled at ten-year intervals. Under a stereoscope, eggs, immature stages, adults of R. indica, and predators were counted in three regions of the foliole (base, middle and apex). This allowed graphing the population movements of mite and its natural enemies with the climatic variables and an analysis of principal components was applied. In the first year, the greatest population was reached in the summer months due to the low rainfall and the rise in temperature. In the second year, the lowest average density was observed with only 3.79 mites.foliole-1, caused by the volume of rain accumulated in that period (462 mm). The third year, a period with scarce rainfall and high temperatures, showed the highest average level of mites per leaflet with 123.5. Eleven species of predatory mites were identified and Amblyseius largoensis Muma was the most frequent and abundant. In the analysis of principal components, with a cophenetic correlation value of 0.976, the rainfall and maximum relative humidity were shown to have the highest correlation with the pest in a negative way, while temperature favored the increase of populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]