Paraphytoseius horrifer (Pritchard & Baker)

Kreiter, Serge & Abo-Shnaf, Reham I. A., 2020, Phytoseiid mites of Rodrigues Island (Acari: Mesostigmata), Acarologia 60 (2), pp. 449-468 : 453

Paraphytoseius horrifer (Pritchard & Baker)

Amblyseius (Ptenoseius) horrifer Pritchard & Baker 1962: 295 .

Amblyseius horrifer, Meyer & Rodrigues 1966: 30 .

Amblyseius (Paraphytoseius) horrifer, van der Merwe 1968: 169 .

Proprioseius (Paraphytoseius) horrifer, Karg 1983: 302 .

Paraphytoseius horrifer, Moraes et al. 1986: 105, 2004: 152 ; Beard 2001: 84; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 37, 2007: 53.

In our collected species of Paraphytoseius , setae S5 are absent. Therefore, according to Chant and McMurtry (2003b) it belongs to the orientalis species group. Like Chant and McMurtry (2003b), and Moraes et al. (2007), we treated P. horrifer and P. orientalis as two different valid species. Our specimens have relatively longer s4, Z4, Z5, and lack a distinct short, thick, spatulate macroseta on genu I. Consequently, they belong to the former species. This species is widely distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. The biology P. of horrifer remains totally unknown.

World distribution: Benin, DR Congo, Ghana, India, Kenya, La Réunion Island, Madagascar Island, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda.

Specimens examined: 4 ♀♀ in total. Citronelle, city parc (349 m aasl, lat. 19°42 ′ 00 ″ S, long. 63°26 ′ 15 ″ E), 3 ♀♀ on Tibouchina heteromalla Cogniaux and 1 ♀ on Cryptomeria japonica D. Don (Taxodiaceae) , 16/XI/2020.

Remarks: morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements fit well with measurements in Kreiter et al. 2020b, c. This species was described from Africa ( Pritchard & Baker 1962), but distributed also in Vietnam ( Kreiter et al. 2020b) 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.