Anystis wallacei Otto

Halliday, R. B., 2005, Predatory mites from crops and pastures in South Africa: potential natural enemies of redlegged earth mite Halotydeus destructor (Acari: Penthaleidae), Zootaxa 1079, pp. 11-64 : 17-18

Anystis wallacei Otto

Anystis wallacei Otto, 1992: 25 .

Anystis sp.: Meyer, 1981: 47.

Anystis species A: Wallace, 1981: 73; Otto & Halliday, 1991: 181.

Anystis salicinus: Meyer & Ueckermann, 1987: 8 ; Holm & Wallace, 1989: 79; Gerson & Smiley, 1990: 49; Michael et al., 1991: 178, 1993: 329; Cullen, 1993: 304.

Anystis wallacei: Ireson & Webb, 1995: 239 ; Gerson et al., 2003: 80.

Specimens examined: Site 94­32, 6 females, 3 males, 18 N, 65 LV; Site 94­34, 1 LV; Site FT204­6, Stellenbosch, 27 July 1965, M. M. H. Wallace, pasture, 5 females; Site FT204­ 18, Somerset West, 29 July 1965, M. M. H. Wallace, pasture, 2 females; Site FT204­14, Mooreesburg, 28 July 1965, M. M. H. Wallace, pasture, 2 N; Site FT204­29, Riversdale, 30 July 1965, M. M. H. Wallace, pasture, 1 male; Site FT204­26, Black River, 30 July 1965, M. M. H. Wallace, pasture, 1 N; Site FT204­29, Riversdale, 30 July 1965, M. M. H. Wallace, pasture, 2 females, 1 male.

Anystis wallacei was described from southern France, and is also found in Spain, Portugal and Morocco ( Otto & Halliday, 1991; Otto, 1992). In 1965 it was introduced from France into Australia (under the name Anystis species A) to assist in the biological control of RLEM and the lucerne flea Sminthurus viridis (Collembola) ( Wallace, 1981; Gerson & Smiley, 1990). It was also introduced from southern France into South Africa for the same reason (as Anystis sp. ( Meyer, 1981), or Anystis salicinus ( Meyer & Ueckermann, 1987; Gerson et al., 2003)). It has achieved effective control of RLEM in the Western Cape Province ( Meyer, 1996). In Australia it spread from release sites very slowly and is involved in complex interactions among predators and prey in the pasture arthropod community ( Michael et al., 1991, 1993), so its effectiveness as a biological control agent is not clear. In the present survey, A. wallacei was rare in South African crops and pastures, with the exception of a single large collection from an experimental farm at Stellenbosch, presumably one of the sites where it was originally released. The heavy preponderance of larvae in this population may be the result of the synchronous hatching of one or more egg masses. Some of the females from this site contained up to 30 eggs, as also reported by Otto and Halliday (1991). It appears as if this predator has not spread out from its release sites, and it is rarely found even at other sites in the Stellenbosch area.