Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes, 1948

Kreiter, Serge, Abo-Shnaf, Reham I. A. & Payet, Rose-My, 2020, Phytoseiid mites of Mayotte Island (Acari: Mesostigmata), Acarologia 60 (3), pp. 622-642 : 624

Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes

Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes 1948: 141 ; Ryu et al. 2001: 8; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 35,

2007: 25; Moraes et al. 1986:70, 2004: 104.

Typhlodromus (Neoseiulus) barkeri, Nesbitt 1951: 35 .

Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) barkeri, Chant 1959: 63 .

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

Typhlodromus (Amblyseius) barkeri, Hughes 1961: 222 .

Typhlodromus barkeri, Hirschmann 1962: 5 .

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

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

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

Amblyseius oahuensis Prasad 1968: 1518 (synonymy according to Ragusa & Athias-Henriot 1983).

Amblyseius picketti Specht 1968: 681 (synonymy according to Ragusa & Athias-Henriot 1983). Amblyseius mycophilus Karg, 1970: 290 (synonymy according to Ragusa & Athias-Henriot 1983).

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

This species belongs to the barkeri species group of the genus Neoseiulus and to the barkeri species subgroup ( Chant and McMurtry 2003a). Neoseiulus barkeri has a worldwide distribution ( Moraes et al. 2004; Demite et al. 2020). Various studies have shown its ability to control Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande ( Rodriguez-Reina et al. 1992) , Thrips tabaci

(Lindeman) ( Broodsgaard and Stengaard Hansen 1992) and Tetranychus urticae Koch on cucumbers ( Fan and Petitt 1994b). Fan and Petitt (1994a) showed that augmentative releases of N. barkeri provided also control of the 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) and Kreiter et al. (2020c) in La Réunion Island and more recently from Rodrigues by Kreiter and Abo-Shnaf

(2020a).

World distribution: it has a worldwide distribution in all continents, in more than 50

countries ( Demite et al. 2020).

Specimens examined: a single ♀ specimen collected during this study. L’Abattoir, City

Center (15 m aasl, 12°47 ′ 18 ″ S, 45°16 ′ 21 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. ( Malvaceae )

with eriophyid mite galls, 14/XI/2018.

Remarks: measurements of characters of female from Mayotte are only slightly different from female specimens from other countries, especially La Réunion Island. Comparisons with

N. barkeri measurements of female and male specimens of various origins in Beaulieu and

Beard (2018) shows shorter dimensions of all characters of Mayotte specimens. These authors already mentioned the shorter dimensions of dorsal setae of African female and male specimens

(lower part of observed ranges) compared to their measurements of type and additional materials

( Beaulieu and Beard 2018).