Overwintering sites and winter mortality of Euseius finlandicus (Acari: Phytoseiidae) in a peach orchard in northern Greece.

In peach orchards of northern Greece Euseius finlandicus Oudemans overwinters in various sites on the trees, usually in groups of 5-15 females. Overwintering females were mostly found in bark crevices near the hibernation cocoons of the peach moth Adoxophyes orana (Fischer von Rosslerstamm), and also in small crevices of the bark and in pedicels left after fruit harvesting. Empty scales of dead diaspidids and dead coccids, cocoons of lacewings and mummies of parasitized aphids sporadically found on trees, were less common overwintering sites for females of the mite. In two successive years, mortality of overwintering females was very low, approximately 4 and 4.5% which could be due to the mild climate of northern Greece and the high cold tolerance of the mite.