Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
On the basis of anatomical and ecological differences, Morgan and Anderson (1957) and Anderson and Morgan (1958) divided the Bryobia praetiosa complex of British Columbia into two species; the brown mite, B. arborea M. & A., 1957, found exclusively on fruit trees, and the clover mite, B. praetiosa Koch, 1836, found chiefly on herbaceous plants and known more commonly as a household pea. Acarologists in Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Russia have separated the complex into a number of species principally on anatomical bases (Pritchard and Keifer, 1958). In a recent exhaustive treatise of the complex in Switzerland, Mathys (1957) proposed five species and four ‘forms’.