Phytoseius intermedius Evans & Macfarlane

Kreiter, Serge, Payet, Rose-My, Douin, Martial, Fontaine, Olivier, Jacques, Fillâtre & Bellec, Fabrice Le, 2020, Phytoseiidae of La Réunion Island (Acari: Mesostigmata): three new species and two males described, new synonymies, and new records, Acarologia 60 (1), pp. 111-195 : 177

Phytoseius intermedius Evans & Macfarlane

Phytoseius (Dubininellus) intermedius Evans & Macfarlane 1961: 587 ; Denmark 1966: 70; Gupta 1977: 636.

Phytoseius (Phytoseius) intermedius, Ehara 1972: 170 ; Prasad 1974: 171; Ehara 1975: 27; Blommers 1976: 82; Moraes et al. 1986: 222, 2004a: 242; Chant & McMurtry 2007: 129. Phytoseius (Phytoseius) yira Pritchard & Baker 1962: 227 (synonymy according to Denmark 1966).

This species belongs to the horridus species group as setae J2 and R1 are absent ( Chant and McMurtry 1994). It was recorded in several countries of Asia, Africa, Madagascar ( Demite et al. 2019) and was already known from La Réunion ( Quilici et al. 2000; Demite et al. 2019).

If all details of collections were provided in previous papers, measurements of specimens collected and identified were not given. Measurements of specimens collected during this study are provided in table 33. The biology of this species remains totally unknown.

Specimens examined: 7 ♀♀ + 1 im. in total, 5 ♀♀ measured. Saint-Joseph – Manapany , SCEA Multiplantes (aasl 404 m, Long 55°35’37” E, Lat 21°22’9” S), 2 ♀♀ + 1 im. on Mangifera indica L., 1 ♀ on Rivina humilis L., 14/2/2017 ; Saint-Pierre – Bassin-Plat CIRAD Research Station (aasl 153 m, Long 55°29’18” E, Lat 21°19’25” S), 2 ♀♀ on A. viridis , 1 ♀ on A. heterophyllus , 27/2/2017 ; 1 ♀ on L. leucocephala , 30/3/2017.

Remarks: measurement values of morphological characters of specimens from La Réunion ( Table 33 ) and specimens from neighbouring countries are very close, especially for specimens from Africa. Some values for specimens from Asia are slightly lower.