Amblyseius passiflorae Blommers, 1974

Kreiter, Serge & Abo-Shnaf, Reham I. A., 2020, New records of phytoseiid mites from Mauritius Island (Acari: Mesostigmata, Acarologia 60 (3), pp. 520-545 : 532-533

Amblyseius passiflorae Blommers

Amblyseius passiflorae Blommers 1974: 145 ; Moraes et al. 1986: 27, 2004: 46; Denmark and Muma 1989: 49; Chant & McMurty 2004: 210, 2007: 80.

This species belongs to the largoensis species group and the arcus species subgroup as the spermatheca is dish-, cup- or bell-shaped and to the vasiformis species complex as seta Z5 is very long. Its biology is totally unknown.

It was previously only known from the type series (five females and one male) (Blommers 1974). The original description was rather complete, providing comprehensive information on female and male morphology. Ferragut and Baumann (2019) had added information on dorsal adenotaxy and poroidotaxy. Amblyseius passiflorae was collected by the latter authors and was thus already recorded from Mauritius.

World distribution: Madagascar, Mauritius.

Specimens examined: 63 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ in total. Brittania (aasl 442 m, lat. 20°27 ′ 01 ″ S, long. 57°33 ′ 42 ″ E), 17 ♀♀ on Cryptomeria japonica (L. f.) D. Don ( Taxodiaceae ) and 3 ♀♀ on Allamanda cathartica L. ( Apocynaceae ), 31/X/2018; Rivière des Anguilles, Bridge (aasl 158 m, lat. 20°28 ′ 49 ″ S, long. 57°33 ′ 37 ″ E), 6 ♀♀ on Mangifera indica L. ( Anacardiaceae ) and 4 ♀♀ on Asplenium nitens Swartz (Aspleniaceae) , 31/X/2018; Le Val, close to the river (aasl 153 m, lat. 20°22 ′ 29 ″ S, long. 57°35 ′ 12 ″ E), 5 ♀♀ on Euphorbia pulcherima Willdenow ex Klotzsch ( Euphorbiaceae ) and 3 ♀♀ on Callistemon citrinus (William Curtis) Homer Collar Skeels ( Myrtaceae ), 1/XI/2018; Quartier militaire (aasl 472 m, lat. 20°15 ′ 11 ″ S, long. 57°34 ′ 32 ″ E), 15 ♀♀ on C. japonica , 1/XI/2018; Pamplemousse, Botanical Garden (aasl 41 m, lat. 20°06 ′ 24 ″ S, long. 57°34 ′ 49 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Artocarpus heterophyllus Lamarck (Moraceae) , 1 ♀ on Hyophorbe lagenicaulis (L.H. Bailey) H.E. Moore (Arecaceae) , 5 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on Acalypha hispida Burman (Euphorbiaceae) and 1 ♀ on Saraca indica L. ( Fabaceae ), 3/XI/2018; Curepipe, Bld Pasteur (aasl 510 m, lat. 20°19 ′ 21 ″ S, long. 57°31 ′ 45 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Sphaeropteris cooperi (Hooker ex F. Mueller) R.M. Tryon (Cyatheaceae) and 1 ♀ on Ixora coccinea L. ( Rubiaceae ), 4/XI/2018.

Remarks: morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements of our specimens fit well values in Blommers (1974) and Ferragut and Baumann (2019). This species is the third most collected species in our study and probably one of the three more common species with A. herbicolus and E. ovaloides .