Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes, 1948

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 : 117-118

Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes

Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes 1948: 141 ; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 35; Moraes et al. 1986:70; Moraes et al. 2004: 104.

Typhlodromus (Neoseiulus) barkeri, Nesbitt 1951: 35 .

Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) barkeri, Chant 1959: 63 .

Typhlodromus (Amblyseius) barkeri, Hughes 1961: 222 .

Typhlodromus barkeri, Hirschmann 1962: 9 .

Amblyseius barkeri, Athias-Henriot 1961: 440 ; Moraes et al. 1989: 95.

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) barkeri, van der Merwe 1968: 112 .

Neoseiulus bakeri, Ryu et al. 2001: 8 ; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 33; Moraes et al. 2004a: 104; Chant & McMurtry 2007: 25.

Amblyseius masiaka Blommers & Chazeau 1974: 308 (Synonymy according to Ueckermann & Loots 1988).

Amblyseius mckenziei Schuster & Pritchard 1963: 268 (Synonymy according to Ragusa & Athias-Henriot 1983).

Amblyseius mycophilus Karg 1970: 290 (Synonymy according to Ragusa & Athias-Henriot 1983).

Amblyseius oahuensis Prasad 1965: 1518 (Synonymy according to Ragusa & Athias-Henriot 1983).

Amblyseius picketti Specht 1968: 681 (Synonymy according to Ragusa & Athias-Henriot 1983).

Amblyseius usitatus van der Merwe 1965: 71 (Synonymy according to Ueckermann & Loots 1988).

This species belongs to the barkeri species group of the genus Neoseiulus , as the spermathecal atrium is large and forked at junction with major duct. It belongs to the barkeri species subgroup as the calyx is not markedly constricted at junction with the atrium, the atrium is deeply forked at the junction with major duct without vacuolated area, and the major duct, atrium and calyx are of approximately the same width ( Chant and McMurtry 2003a).

Neoseiulus barkeri has a worldwide distribution ( Moraes et al. 2004a; Demite et al. 2019). Various studies have shown its ability to control Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande ( Rodriguez-Reina et al. 1992), Thrips tabaci (Lindeman) ( Broodsgaard and Hansen 1992) and T. urticae in cucumber ( Fan and Petitt 1994b). Fan and Petitt (1994a) showed that augmentative releases of N. barkeri provided control of broad mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) , on peppers. Neoseiulus barkeri constitutes a potential BCA for several crops especially in vegetables greenhouses.

This species has been mentioned by Quilici et al., (2000) in La Réunion, with locations listed but without morphological measurements presented. Measurements of specimens collected during this study are provided in the table 2.

Specimens examined: 51 ♀♀ + 2 ♂♂ in total, 15 ♀♀ + 2 ♂♂ measured. St-Pierre - Ligne Paradis, La Coccinelle Inc. (aasl 164 m, Long 55°28’59” E, Lat 21°18’55” S), 5 ♀♀ in rearings of Proprioseiopsis mexicanus (Garman) , 1/1/2017; Vincendo – Delaunay Jean-Max farm (aasl 110 m, Long 55°67’14” E, Lat 21°38” S), 45 ♀♀ + 2 ♂♂ on Capsicum annuum L., 11 and 18/1/2016 and 15/12/2016; Montvert-les-Hauts – EARL Le Mont Vert farm (aasl 582 m, Long 55°32’19” E, Lat 21°19’42” S), 1 ♀ on C. annuum , 19/9/2016 .

Remarks: measurements of characters of females from La Réunion Island are only slightly different from female specimens from other countries, with less than 10 % differences ( Table 2 ). All setae of specimens from South Africa ( Ueckermann and Meyer 1988) are just slightly longer from those from other countries. Measurements of characters of males from La Réunion Island are also slightly different from male specimens from other countries, with <10% differences ( Table 2 ). In general, setae of specimens from La Réunion appears a bit smaller than those from other African countries but dorsal shied is larger.

Comparisons with N. barkeri measurements of female and male ( Table 2 ) specimens of various origins in Beaulieu and Beard (2018) shows shorter dimensions of all characters of La Réunion specimens (all ranges of La Réunion specimens are in the lower parts of the ranges mentioned by these authors). These authors already mention in their paper the shorter dimensions of dorsal setae of African female and male specimens (lower part of observed ranges) compared to their own measurements ( Beaulieu and Beard 2018).