In order to evaluate the important role of climate on soil formation, three
different locations (Nawa, Dael and Nasib) in southern part of Syria,
representing the North West, Middle and Southern parts of Hauran Plateau
were selected and differ mai
nly in the amount of annual precipitation and
relatively with other factors. Three profiles, replicated three times, were
prepared one profile for each area.
The accuracy of the taxon T. cinnabarinus (Boisduval 1867) as a distinct species, or
as a synonym of Tetranychus urticae Koch 1836, is still standing as a controversial issue of
taxonomy and as a point of discussion. T. cinnabarinus and T. urticae
have been regarded
in the first stage of this study as one species, and it was characterized depending on the
distinctive characteristics of both genders. In the second stage, the two species were
distinguished according to many morphological characters that have been recommended by
authors cited T.cinnabarinus as a valid species. The efficiency of some measures adopted
to distinguish both T. cinnabarinus and T. urticae were also tested. Measurements didn't
match local samples that showed obvious differences, T. cinnabarinus & T. urticae are not
likely to be considered as two different species according to recent researches. Both T.
cinnabarinus and T. urticae were detected on various wild and cultivated host plants. One
hundred samples of plants presented symptoms of tetranychid attacks were collected from
different localities in Lattakia province. Both T. urticae and T. cinnabarinus were found on
29, 9 samples, respectively.
