Taxonomic information	Current valid scientific name: Cenopalpus irani Synonyms: Brevipalpus irani (Meyer, 1979) Name used in the EU legislation: – Order: Trombidiformes Family: Tenuipalpidae Common name: Iranian false spider mite Name used in the Dossier: –
Group	Mites
EPPO code	–
Regulated status	Not regulated
Pest status in Turkey	C. irani is present in Turkey (Çobanoğlu et al., 2019).
Pest status in the EU	C. irani is not present in the EU.
Host status on Malus domestica	M. domestica is reported as a host of C. irani (Rashki et al., 2004).
PRA information	No PRA is available for C. irani.
Other relevant information for the assessment
Biology	Females and males of C. irani are about 0.3 mm long, red, oval shaped and dorsoventrally flattened. These mites hibernate in branches, between October and March. C. irani is one of the most important tenuipalpid pests on apple and it completes three generations per year in Iran (Rashki et al., 2002). Fertilised females appear in April, at an average daily air temperature of +15°C. The first generation occurs at the end of April and May, the second at the end of June and the third near the end of August. Larvae and nymphal stages are about 0.2 mm long and red. The population of this mite rapidly increases to a high density during the summer with increasing temperature and dryness. Female populations peak in September and October and by the mid of this month they start to hibernate (Darbemamieh et al., 2009; Khanjani et al., 2012, 2013; Rashki et al., 2004). Both reproductive parameters such as fecundity and fertility, and survival parameters of C. irani are influenced by temperature. An increase in temperature, from 15 to 30°C, leads to increases in fecundity and fertility rates and to a decrease in mortality percentage (Bazgir et al., 2015). C. irani is phytophagous, and has been reported on apple, pear, olive, walnut, quince, grapevine, sour cherry, plum, peach, fig and pistachio (Mehrnejad and Ueckermann, 2001; Gholamzera et al., 2013). C. irani is widely distributed in apple orchards and is one of the most important tenuipalpid pests on apple in Iran (Darbemamieh et al., 2009; Rashki et al., 2002). It is reported as present in Turkey and widespread in Iran (Khanjani et al., 2012, 2013; Sultan et al., 2019).
Symptoms	Main type of symptoms	C. irani feeds on stems, fruits, flowers and leaves, often on the lower surface, sometimes causing serious damage to various crops. It is difficult to detect spider mites at low densities, since these are invisible to the naked eye. To confirm their presence an examination with a stereomicroscope of the undersides of leaves is necessary. The presence of spider mites is usually associated with the presence of white exuviae and webbing; however,  C . irani and other Tenuipalpidae are considered false spider mites as they do not produce silk webbings on plants (Fathipour et al., 2016).
	Presence of asymptomatic plants	The absence of leaves does not allow to detect symptoms. Resting stages of mites on the bark are not associated with symptoms. No information
	Confusion with other pests	It can be confused with other tenuipalpid mites, such as for example Cenopalpus pulcher.
Host plant range	The hosts of C. irani are: Chaenomeles sp., Cydonia oblonga, Ficus carica, Malus domestica, Olea sp., Pistacia mutica, Pistacia vera, Prunus cerasus, Prunus domestica, Pyrus persica, Pyrus communis, Populus alba, Vitis vinifera (Rashki et al., 2004; Mehrnejad and Ueckermann, 2001; Khanjani et al., 2012).
Reported evidence of impact	This mite infests several rosaceous species and is reported as one of the most important tenuipalpid pests on apple in Iran.
Pathways and evidence that the commodity is a pathway	Possible pathways of entry for C. irani are plants for planting since these mites overwinter in branches. Spider mites can spread by wind currents and longer distance dispersion can occur by transportation of planting material (EPPO, online).
Surveillance information	No surveillance information is currently available from the Turkey NPPO.