Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor)

Tixier, Marie-Stephane, Auger, Philippe, Migeon, Alain, Douin, Martial, Fossoud, Amandine, Navajas, Maria & Arabuli, Tea, 2021, Integrated taxonomy supports the identification of some species of Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Georgia, Acarologia 61 (4), pp. 824-844 : 830-831

Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor)

Typhlodromus californicus McGregor 1954: 89 .

Amblyseius californicus, Schuster & Pritchard 1963: 271 .

Cydnodromus californicus, Athias-Henriot 1977: 62 .

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) californicus, Ueckermann & Loots 1988: 150 ; Ehara et al. 1994:

126.

Amblyseius (Neoseiulus) californicus, Ehara & Amano 1998: 33 .

Specimens examined. at Ozurgeti (Nasakirali) (41.9869° N, 42.0697° E): 8 ♀♀ on Rubus

sp. ( Rosaceae ), at Ozurgeti (2 kms from Nagomari) (42.0097° N, 42.1236° E): 4 ♀♀ and 1 ♂

on Rubus sp. (Rosaceae) .

Previous records. Argentina, Azores, Brazil, Canada, Canary Islands, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, France, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Madeira Islands ( Kreiter et al. 2021), Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Reunion Island, Senegal, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Syria, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam.

Measurements of females (4 specimens)

Dorsum. Dorsal shield 331 (310–340) long and 150 (135–175) wide, reticulated throughout, with three solenostomes (gd1, gd6 and gd9), 17 pairs of dorsal setae and two pairs of sub-lateral setae: j1 19 (17–20), j3 26 (22–30), j4 19 (15–22), j5 19 (17–22), j6 25 (22–27), J2 32 (27–37),

J5 8 (7–10), z2 25 (22–27), Z1 28 (27–30), z4 26 (25–27), z5 19 (17–22), Z4 50, Z5 59 (57–62),

s4 34 (32–35), S2 38 (37–40), S4 34 (32–35), S5 29 (25–32), r3 24 (20–25) and R1 21 (20–22)

in length. All setae smooth except Z5 slightly barbed.

Peritreme. Extending forwards to the bases of the setae j1.

Venter. Sternal shield with three pairs of setae and two pairs of poroids; one pair of sternal setae (st4) on small metasternal platelets; posterior margin straight. Distances between st1–st3

62 (60–62), st2–st2 57 (55–60), st5–st5 62 (60–65). Two pairs of metapodal plates, the largest one 22 (20–25) long and 4 (3–5) wide, the smallest one 8 (7–10) long and 2 wide. Ventrianal shield with three pairs of pre-anal setae JV1, JV2, ZV2 and pre-anal crescent pores (gv3) present, posterior-paraxial to setae JV2. Integument surrounding ventrianal shield with four pairs of setae ZV1, ZV3, JV4 and JV5 ; ventrianal shield 102 (100–105) long, 107 (100–110) wide at level of anterior corners, and 80 (75–85) wide at level of anus. JV5 41 (40–42) long.

Legs. Legs IV with three macrosetae: on the genu 15, tibia 15 and basitarsus 47. Genu II with seven setae (2–2/0, 2/0–1) and Genu III with seven setae (1–2/1, 2/0–1).

Chelicera. Fixed digit 27, movable digit 22 (dentition not visible as the chelicerae are closed).

Spermatheca. Calyx cup-shaped 7–9 long and 7 in width, with a small atrium in base of the calyx.

Remarks. Neoseiulus californicus is commonly used in biological control. It is massreleased in crops, especially in vegetables for controlling Tetranychus urticae Koch , all over the World. This species can also naturally occur in vineyards and orchards (McMurtry and Croft 1997 ; Tixier et al. 2008a). The measurements of the Georgian specimens globally match with those reported in the re-description of Tixier et al. (2008a) ( Table 2). Although the setae Z5 and JV5 are shorter on average in the Georgian specimens than in Tixier et al. (2008a, compiling 300 specimens from 10 populations), these differences are consistent with intraspecific variation range. Morphological identification was confirmed by DNA sequences obtained: one 12S rRNA, four cytB and one COI mtDNA. The CytB and the 12S rRNA sequences were compared to those reported in Okassa et al. (2011). The CytB and the 12S

rRNA mean genetic distances between the Georgian and the commercial specimens (from different companies and those retrieved world-wide after commercial releases) are 0.04% and 0.1 %, respectively ( Okassa et al. 2011). For COI sequences, the Georgian specimens are separated by distances ranging from 0.6 to 0.11% from specimens N of. californicus collected in apple orchards in France ( Tixier et al. 2008a).

This is the first report of N. californicus collected in the wild in Georgia. Because of molecular similarity with the commercial specimens, we assume that the presence of N. californicus results from commercial releases and specimens herein collected on Rubus sp.

might have dispersed from where they were released.