Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, 1962

Farazmand, Azadeh, Jalaeian, Mahdi, Kamali, Hashem, Saboori, Alireza, Tixier, MarieStéphane & Kreiter, Serge, 2023, Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) in four provinces of Iran, Persian Journal of Acarology 12 (1), pp. 21-58 : 31-32

Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, 1962

Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, 1962: 5 .

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) swirskii, Ehara 1966: 23 . Typhlodromips swirskii, Moraes et al. 1986: 149 ; 2004: 227.

Amblyseius swirskii, Chant & McMurtry 2004 a: 201; 2007: 81.

Amblyseius capsicum ( Basha, Yousef, Ibrahim & Mostafa, 2001) : 372 (synonymy according to Abo-Shnaf & Moraes 2014).

Amblyseius enab El-Badry, 1967: 178 (synonymy according to Abo-Shnaf & Moraes 2014). Amblyseius rykei Pritchard & Baker, 1962: 249 (synonymy according to Zannou & Hanna 2011).

The predatory mite A. swirskii is one of the most efficient Phytoseiidae ; it is currently released in more than 50 countries aroun the world. It originates from the eastern Mediterranean coast and was described in 1962 by Athias-Henriot on almonds [ Prunus dulcis (Miller) Webb. ] in Bet Dagan, Israel. This species was then reported along the coast of Israel, in Middle Eastern countries, in southern Europe, in sub-Saharan Africa and in the America only once in Argentina with a questionable identification ( Demite et al. 2022). This species is able to develop not only in the Mediterranean region but also in subtropical and tropical areas ( Zannou and Hanna 2011). Since this species is not entering diapause, it can be used during much of the season when daytime temperatures are regularly above 22 °C ( Calvo et al. 2015). Amblyseius swirskii is widely used in Europe and North America to control whiteflies and thrips in greenhouse vegetables (especially cucumbers, peppers and eggplants) and some ornamentals ( Calvo et al. 2015). The biology of this species and its importance for biocontrol were reviewed by Calvo et al. (2015) and Buitenhuis et al. (2015).

Specimens examined – two ♀♀ and one ♂. Mazandaran province – one ♀ and one ♂, Javarem park (349 m aasl, 52° 54′ 30.47′′ E, 36° 13′ 42.44′′ N), on Ficus carica L. ( Moraceae ), 6.VIII.2018 ; one ♀, Alasht (1720 m aasl, 52° 50′ 14.974′′ E, 36° 4′ 6.473′′ N), on an unknown plant ( Apiaceae ), 7.VIII.2018 .

World distribution – Argentina, Azerbaijan, Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cuba, Dr Congo, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Georgia, Ghana, Iran, Israel, Italy, Kenya, La Réunion Island, Malawi, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tanzania, Türkiye, USA, Yemen, Zimbabwe. Precise distribution in Iran is documented in Kazemi et al. (2022).

Remarks – This species was already recorded in Iran ( Kazemi et al. 2022) but is a new record for Mazandaran Province. The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens from Spain and by Kreiter et al. (2016a, b) for specimens from La Réunion and various other countries. Just like emphasized in these last papers for La Réunion (previous surveys have not mentioned that species), this species was not native to Iran and possibly escaped to the field after being used in the greenhouses against whiteflies and thrips.