Neoseiulus longilaterus (Athias-Henriot)

ZahidiK, Abdelaziz, Akchour, Abdellah, K, Serge Kreiter, TixierK, Marie-Stéphane, MsandaK, Fouad & MousadikK, Abdelhamid El, 2023, Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Central West Morocco: new records and key to females of all recorded Moroccan species, Acarologia 63 (3), pp. 691-724 : 696

Neoseiulus longilaterus (Athias-Henriot)

Typhlodromus longilaterus Athias-Henriot, 1957b: 218 .

Typhlodromus (Amblyseius) longilaterus, Chant 1959: 79 .

Cydnodromus longilaterus, Muma 1961: 290 .

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) longilaterus, Ueckermann & Loots 1988: 128 .

Amblyseius longilaterus, Swirski & Amitai 1997a: 14 .

Neoseiulus longilaterus, Moraes et al. 1986: 85 , 2004a: 128 ; Chant & McMurtry 2003: 23, 2007: 29.

World distribution — Algeria, Israel, Morocco, and Tunisia.

Previous records from Morocco — This species has been reported for the first time in Morocco on Echium vulgare (L.) ( Boraginaceae ) at Larache Beach ( Tixier et al. 2016).

Specimens examined — 2 ♀♀ collected in June 2018 at Stah Al Madina on Convolvulus arvensis M. (Bieb) ( Convolvulaceae ).

Remarks — Measurements and description of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Evans (1987). Tsolakis et al. (2013) showed the ability of this species to feed on T. urticae , Panonychus citri (McGregor) , P. ulmi (Koch) . This species is only known from the Mediterranean basin and has been observed on Convolvulus spp. ( Convolvulaceae ) and on Cynodon dactylon (L.) ( Poaceae ) ( Sahraoui et al. 2012). In addition, as reported by Tsolakis et al. (2019), N. longilaterus have similar traits with some phytoseiid species belonging to type

II selective predators, but also with some others included within type III generalist predators. As a matter of fact, it can be considered an interesting biocontrol agent towards T. urticae , able also to develop on alternative foods as the pollen of Oxalis spp. L. ( Oxalidaceae ).