My passion for mites can be traced back to 2006, the first time I saw mites: at the time, I could not recognize those eight-legged creatures and just called them spiders. Later, I took a course in Acarology when I was a junior. I got good grades in that class and, more importantly, learned to appreciate the beauty of mites. My academic performance until then was rather poor, and Entomology not quite my cup of tea. But discovering the secrets of mites took my life in a new direction: my mission became to tell people about those mysterious, fascinating creatures.
When I was a graduate student, my advisor Dr. Chiun-Cheng Ko encouraged me to study mites associated with agriculture, in order to develop a type of plant protection based around them. I found that Phytoseiidae of Taiwan had already been studied in the past, with Yi-Hsiung Tseng having recorded 48 species. All of Tseng’s specimens, however, went missing after his retirement. Therefore, I chose to dedicate my life to studying phytoseiid mites, in the hope of finding among them the native natural enemies of the Tetranychidae, the spider mite pests causing substantial damage to Taiwanese agriculture.
I finished my master’s thesis two years later, and began my military service. It was during that year spent in the navy, trying to figure out my lifetime career goal while on the Pacific Ocean, that I realized mites were my life mission. I therefore went back to NTU to work towards my Ph.D. degree. However, life is not all roses: it took me three attempts to pass the doctoral entrance examination, and I had to drop out of school at one point, after failing the qualifying test. Nevertheless, I was able to finish my degree, thanks to the support of all my family and friends.
I have now published several research articles regarding new or newly-recorded phytoseiid mites in Taiwan. Reporting the Phytoseiidae fauna of Taiwan felt like a responsibility to me. This book contains the currently-recorded phytoseiid mites of Taiwan and neighboring islands, totaling 64 species. I made a small wish to myself that one day I would compile everything we learned and publish a comprehensive list of Taiwanese phytoseiids, so that researchers worldwide can have access to this information about Taiwan. I hope this book will not only contribute to the knowledge of phytoseiid mite biodiversity, but also provide a framework for future biological control use of these predatory mites.
Jhih-Rong Liao
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植綏蟎科（Phytoseiidae）是一備受矚目的分類群，全世界已記錄超過2,700種。此類群的部分種類用作於生物防治的捕食性天敵，能捕食田間植食性蟎如葉蟎、節蟎，及一些小型害蟲，對於農業生態系提供重要的貢獻。臺灣與鄰近島嶼先前已經記錄53種植綏蟎，也在研究上面臨一些問題：(1)本土物種的應用研究較缺乏；(2)外來生物入侵後，本土性天敵並未被重新關注；(3)相較鄰近國家，臺灣地區的植綏蟎物種數仍有研究空間；(4)臺灣地區植綏蟎研究缺乏一完整的專著介紹；(5)植綏蟎專家曾義雄先生退休後，所有標本皆已散佚，提高了後續研究的難度。
本書作者於撰寫前做了長期的研究工作。首先進行臺灣地區與鄰近島嶼的普查，於田野或林間進行大量採集；普查的同時亦調查各物種的基礎生物學，包括寄主植物、發生時間、發生地區與食性等資訊；此外也藉由分析曾義雄先生的標本採集資訊，特別針對模式產地，調查模式寄主植物，找出相同物種做重新描述。作者在撰寫時，從形態分類著手，加入植綏蟎額外的特徵描述，如背板孔、足毛式、四對足毛相等，且所有的種類皆做了描述與繪圖，完成了本書《臺灣植綏蟎誌》。自2009至2019年所採集到的植綏蟎共有2,500多筆紀錄，二萬餘隻個體。另外第二作者於1985至2015年間所採集的植綏蟎標本，則暫存於臺灣大學昆蟲標本館。
本書以專論的形式出版，內容包含臺灣產植綏蟎生物誌，囊括臺灣產植綏蟎科共計14屬64種（含已於先前陸續發表的5新種、8新紀錄種），提供所有物種之完整形態描述與測量值及各級檢索表。此外，對於植綏蟎科的系統分類做了回顧、現況介紹、植綏蟎外部形態介紹，並探討各植綏蟎物種之生物防治潛力，希望能藉此協助臺灣種類的鑑定；所增加寄主植物與食性等資訊，能充實臺灣生物多樣性資料庫，對未來植綏蟎應用提供重要基礎。
本書的出版除作為分類學者的研究工具書外，亦是病蟲害防治、生物防治及自然保育生物多樣性相關領域的重要參考資料。期許本書的問世能有助於未來開發本土性植綏蟎天敵與田間實際應用，成為生物多樣性、系統發生學與親緣地理研究的重要骨幹。
廖治榮
