Paraphytoseius orientalis (Narayanan, Kaur & Ghai)

Kreiter, Serge, Payet, Rose-My & Azali, Hamza Abdou, 2021, Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) of Mohéli Island (Comoros Archipelago), Acarologia 61 (1), pp. 94-114 : 97

Paraphytoseius orientalis (Narayanan, Kaur & Ghai)

Typhlodromus (Amblyseius) orientalis Narayanan, Kaur & Ghai 1960: 394 .

Paraphytoseius orientalis, Moraes et al. 1986: 105, 2004a: 162 ; Chant & McMurtry 2003b:

220, 2007: 53.

Amblyseius ipomeai, Narayanan, Kaur & Ghai 1960: 394 (synonymy according to El­Banhawy 1984).

Paraphytoseius multidentatus, Swirski & Shechter 1961: 114 (synonymy according to Matthysse & Denmark 1981 in Denmark et al. 1999).

Paraphytoseius narayanani, Ehara 1967: 67 (synonymy according to Ehara & Ghai, in Ehara 1967).

This species belongs to the orientalis species group ( Chant and McMurtry 2003b). Our specimens with relatively shorter setae s4, Z4 and Z5, having a distinctly short, thick, spatulate macroseta on genu I belong to the species P. orientalis . This species is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical areas in South America, Africa and Asia. It belongs to a genus included in the large polyphagous generalist group named type III phytoseiid mites ( McMurtry and Croft 1997 ; McMurtry et al. 2013). Navasero and Navasero (2016) had studied the life history of P. orientalis on the broad mite Polyphagotarsonemus ( latus ) (Banks) as prey and reported high predation rates on the eggs of P. latus , suggesting good potential for the control of this pest.

World distribution: Argentina, Brazil, Burundi, India, Japan, Kenya, La Réunion Island, Madagascar Island, Martinique Island, Mauritius Island, Mozambique, Rwanda.

Specimens examined: 3 specimens (2 ♀♀ and 1 ♂) in total. Bandar­Es­Salam, Les Abous Inn (23 m aasl, 12°17 ′ 37 ″ S, 43°45 ′ 27 ″ E), 2 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on Solanum pyracanthos Lamarck (Solanaceae) , 2/XII/2018.

Remarks: morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements fit well measurements in Ferragut and Baumann (2019) and Kreiter et al. (2020d). This species was described from Asia ( Narayanan et al. 1960) and presented also in Mauritius ( Ferragut and Baumann 2019 ; Kreiter et al. 2018a ; Kreiter and Abo­Shnaf 2020b), Mayotte (Kreiter et al. 2020a), Vietnam (Kreiter et al. 2020b), and in La Réunion Island ( Kreiter et al. 2020d).