Neoseiulus houstoni Schicha

Neoseiulus houstoni Schicha 1987: 111; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 23; Moraes et al. 2004: 123.

Neoseiulus recifensis Gondim Jr. & Moraes 2001: 77 (synonymy according to Kreiter et al. 2020c).

Neoseiulus barreti Kreiter in Furtado et al. 2005: 135 (synonymy according to Kreiter et al. 2020c).

This species belongs to the cucumeris species group of Neoseiulus . It was collected and described in 1987 on Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. in Queensland, Australia (Schicha 1987) and described long time after under two different species names, N. recifensis Gondim Jr and Moraes and N. barreti Kreiter. Kreiter et al. (2020c) had established those two species as junior synonyms of N. houstoni and described for the first time the male of N. houstoni .

Biology of this species remains totally unknown.

World distribution: Australia, Brazil, Reunion Island.

Specimens examined: 15 ♀♀ + 1 ♂ in total. Port-Mathurin, City Center (11 m aasl, lat. 19°40 ′ 53 ″ S, long. 63°25 ′ 17 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Citrus limon (L.) Burman ( Rutaceae), 1 ♀ on Ziziphus mauritiana Lamarck (Rhamnaceae) and 5 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on Casuarina equisetifolia L. ( Casuarinaceae), 8/XI/2018 and 1 ♀ on Ocimum americanum L. ( Lamiaceae), 13/XI/2018; Port Sud-Est, Sea Front (2 m aasl, lat. 19°44 ′ 36 ″ S, long. 63°25 ′ 17 ″ E), 3 ♀♀ on Solanum melongena L. ( Solanaceae) and 3 ♀♀ on Cordia myxa L. ( Boraginaceae), 11/XI/2018; Samy (201 m aasl, lat. 19°42 ′ 28 ″ S, long. 63°24 ′ 24 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Citrus limon (L.) Burman ( Rutaceae), 12/XI/2018.

Remarks: morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements fit well with measurements in Kreiter et al. 2020c. This species was described from Australia, but presented also in Brazil and was firstly mentioned in the Indian Ocean from La Réunion Island, an Island distant of 836 km from Rodrigues. Several species are shared by the two Islands and probably by many others.