Pest Profile
Brown wheat mite
Petrobia latens
Management guide
Pest Description
Brown wheat mites are metallic brown to black, which are just small enough to be visible. Their legs are orange, and their forelegs are distinctively longer than the other three pair of legs.
Brown wheat mite feeds on wheat in late fall and early spring, with a tendancy to feed on leaf tips, causing them to stipple, brown and die. Heavily infested fields present a scorched, withered appearance.
Source of information
P.E. Sloderbeck, J.P. Michaud, and R. J. Whitworth (entomology.ksu.edu)
Pest photo source
Phil Sloderbeck, KSU Entomology