Neoseiulus longispinosus (Evans)

Kreiter, Serge & Abo-Shnaf, Reham I. A., 2020, Phytoseiid mites of Rodrigues Island (Acari: Mesostigmata), Acarologia 60 (2), pp. 449-468 : 452-453

Neoseiulus longispinosus (Evans)

Typhlodromus longispinosus Evans 1952: 413, 1953: 465 ; Womersley 1954: 177; Ehara 1958: 55.

Typhlodromus (Amblyseius) longispinosus, Chant 1959: 74 .

Amblyseius longispinosus, Corpuz & Rimando 1966: 129 ; Schicha 1975: 103.

Neoseiulus longispinosus, Moraes et al. 1986: 85, 2000: 245 , 2004: 129; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 37, 2007: 29.

This species belongs to the barkeri species group and the womersleyi species subgroup as the calyx is markedly constricted at the junction with the atrium that is deeply forked at the junction with the major duct which with atrium and calyx are not of the same width ( Chant and McMurtry 2003a).

This species is distributed in many countries of the world, mainly in tropical areas ( Moraes et al. 2000; Mailloux et al. 2010; Kreiter et al. 2013, 2018 a, c; Demite et al. 2020). It was found in low numbers in Guadeloupe, Martinique and La Réunion except for studies on companion plants in citrus orchards ( Mailloux et al. 2010; Kreiter et al. 2013, 2018c; Le Bellec et al., unpub. data). This species seems to be more common on weeds with populations of tetranychid mites. Neoseiulus longispinosus , a type II phytoseiid predatory mite, as is N. californicus ( McMurtry et al. 2013) , had received increasing attention in Asia for the control of different spider mites (of Eutetranychus , Oligonychus , and Tetranychus ) since 2010 ( Nusartlert et al. 2011). The feeding, development, predation, cannibalism, intra-guild predation and behaviour had thus been extensively studied by several authors (e.g., Luong et al. 2017) for pest control purposes. Neoseiulus longispinosus is well-known as a BCA sell in several countries in the world for the management of spider mites. The recent results of Huyen et al. (2017) showed at least in controlled laboratory conditions, N. longispinosus is a potential biological control agent against the citrus red mite, Panonychus citri (McGregor) .

World distribution: This species is distributed in many countries of the world, mainly in tropical areas.

Specimens examined: 17 ♀♀ + 2 ♂ in total. Baie aux huitres (8 m aasl, lat. 19°41 ′ 40 ″ S, long. 63°24 ′ 30 ″ E), 3 ♀♀ on Solanum nigrum L. ( Solanaceae ) and 1 ♀ on Nerium oleander L. ( Apocynaceae ), 9/XI/2018; Anse aux Anglais (2 m aasl, lat. 19°40 ′ 33 ″ S, long. 63°26 ′ 05 ″ E), 5 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standley (Cucurbitaceae) , 11/XI/2018; Port Sud-Est, Sea Front (2 m aasl, lat. 19°44 ′ 36 ″ S, long. 63°25 ′ 17 ″ E), 6 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on Solanum melongena L. ( Solanaceae ), 11/XI/2018; Port-Mathurin, City Center (11 m altitude above sea level = aasl, lat. 19°40 ′ 53 ″ S, long. 63°25 ′ 17 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Ocimum americanum L. ( Lamiaceae ), 13/XI/2018; Mont Lubin (346 m aasl, lat. 19°42 ′ 21 ″ S, long. 63°26 ′ 40 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Malvastrum coromandelianum (L.) Garcke ( Malvaceae ), 15/XI/2018.

Remarks: measurements of specimens of Rodrigues females and males overlap with those obtained for populations of various countries, especially for specimens from La Réunion Island ( Kreiter et al. 2020c).