Text adapted from Turfgrass Pest Management: A Guide to Major Turfgrass Pests in Oklahoma. Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.

INSECT AND DESCRIPTION: Bermudagrass mite, Eriophyes cynodoniensis Sayed. Extremely small (can barely be seen with a 10x hand lens), white, worm-like mites. Has two pairs of legs near head end. Females lay spherical, transparent eggs singly or in groups. Also called Eriophyid mite.

LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS: Little is known of the life history of this pest, but it is thought to overwinter beneath the leaf sheaths in the crowns of the bermudagrass plants. The females begin laying eggs beneath the leaf sheaths of the new growth in the spring. Breeding continues during the warm part of the year and several generations occur during the season. The mites suck juices from the stems and inside of the leaf sheaths.

SUSCEPTIBLE PLANTS: Common and hybrid bermudagrasses.

DAMAGE CAUSED: Shortening of stem internodes resulting in a stunted, rosetted or tufted appearance of the plants. With heavy infestations the grass turns brown and dies. When infestations are allowed to persist the grass may be thinned out allowing the growth of weeds.

METHOD OF DETECTION: Look for plants with a stunted, rosetted, or tufted appearance. Pull leaf sheaths away from stems. Examine inside of leaf sheaths and exposed stems with 10x to 20x hand lens or dissecting microscope. Look for mites and spherical, transparent eggs.

Figure 2. -- "Bermudagrass mites (close-up)", Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service