Overseas, at least nine species of eriophyoid mites belonging to seven genera are known to occur on olives. Only about 1 to 4 mites are found per apical leaf at that stage. With the onset of spring, females move to the buds and new leaflets where they start to reproduce rapidly. In a short space of time, all life stages are found. Throughout the flowering stage, individuals migrate to the developing buds, calyx and ovaries.
Densities can reach as many as a hundred mites per flower.
Individuals then move onto the young fruits. When the fruit reaches more than 0.5 cm in diameter they move to the persistent flower sepals. Other fruit trees and nut trees. Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam. Keifer, H.H. 1939 .