Neoseiulus houstoni Schicha, 1987

Kreiter, Serge & Abo-Shnaf, Reham I. A., 2020, New records of phytoseiid mites from Mauritius Island (Acari: Mesostigmata, Acarologia 60 (3), pp. 520-545 : 522

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.24349/acarologia/20204382
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4527377
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/A479FF3F-9613-221E-FE4C-FD42FCBA3B41
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Neoseiulus houstoni Schicha
status

Treatment

Neoseiulus houstoni Schicha View in CoL

Neoseiulus houstoni, Schicha 1987: 111 View in CoL ; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 23; Moraes et al. 2004: 123.

Neoseiulus recifensis Gondim Jr. & Moraes 2001: 77 View in CoL (synonymy according to Kreiter et al. 2020c).

Neoseiulus barreti Kreiter View in CoL in Furtado et al. 2005: 135 (synonymy according to Kreiter et al. 2020c).

This species belongs to the cucumeris species group of Neoseiulus View in CoL . It was collected on Vigna unguiculata View in CoL (L.) Walpers in Queensland, Australia and described by Schicha (1987). Then described a long time after under two different species names, N. recifensis Gondim Jr and Moraes View in CoL and N. barreti Kreiter. Kreiter et al. (2020c) View in CoL had put those two species as junior synonyms of N. houstoni View in CoL and described for the first time the male of N. houstoni View in CoL . Biology of this species remains totally unknown and it is the first record from Mauritius.

World distribution: Australia, Brazil, Reunion Island.

Specimens examined: 2 ♀♀ in total. Pamplemousse, Botanical Garden (altitude above sea level = aasl 41 m, lat. 20°06 ′ 24 ″ S, long. 57°34 ′ 49 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Acacia glauca Willdenow (Fabaceae), 3/XI/2018 GoogleMaps ; Bel Ombre, Resorts (aasl 11 m, lat. 20°06 ′ 24 ″ S, long. 57°34 ′ 49 ″ E) GoogleMaps , 1 ♀ on Thespesia populneoides (L.) Solander ex Corrêa ( Malvaceae ), 5/XI/2018.

Remarks: morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements fit well measurements in Kreiter et al. (2020c). This species was described from Australia, but recorded also in Brazil and was first mentioned in the Indian Ocean from La Réunion Island, an Island distant of only 225 km from Mauritius. Several species were shared by the two Islands and probably by many others.