Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes

Kreiter, Serge, Amiri, Karima, Douin, Martial, Bohinc, Tanja, Trdan, Stanislav & Tixier, Marie-Stéphane, 2020, Phytoseiid mites of Slovenia (Acari: Mesostigmata): new records and first description of the male ofAmblyseius microorientalis, Acarologia 60 (2), pp. 203-242 : 205-206

Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes

Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes 1948: 142 ; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 35; Moraes et al. 1986:70; Moraes et al. 2004: 104; Chant & McMurtry 2007: 25; Beaulieu & Beard 2018: 471 .

Typhlodromus (Neoseiulus) barkeri, Nesbitt 1951: 31 .

Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) barkeri, Chant 1959: 61 .

Typhlodromus (Amblyseius) barkeri, Hughes 1961: 222 .

Typhlodromus barkeri, Hirschmann 1962: 144 .

Amblyseius barkeri, Athias-Henriot 1961: 440 .

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

Amblyseius (Neoseiulus) barkeri, Karg 1993: 188 .

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

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

Amblyseius mycophilus Karg 1970: 290 (synonymy according to Ragusa & Athias-Henriot 1983).

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 (Amblyseius) pieteri Schultz 1972: 17 (synonymy according to Ueckermann & Loots 1988).

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

This species belongs to the barkeri species group of the genus Neoseiulus , as the spermathecal atrium is large and forked at junction with the major duct. It belongs to the barkeri species subgroup as the calyx is not markedly constricted at junction with the atrium, the atrium is deeply forked at the junction with the major duct without vacuolated area, and the major duct, atrium and calyx are of approximately the same width ( Chant and McMurtry 2003a).

Neoseiulus barkeri has a worldwide distribution (see below and Moraes et al. 2004a; Demite et al. 2020). It is a well-known predator of T. urticae and also of thrips, and is released in greenhouses (strawberry, cucumber, eggplant) to control them. Various studies have shown its ability to control Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) ( Rodriguez-Reina et al. 1992) , Thrips tabaci Lindeman ( Broodsgaard and Hansen 1992) and T. urticae in cucumber ( Fan and Petitt 1994b). Fan and Petitt (1994a) showed that augmentative releases of N. barkeri provided control of Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) on peppers. N. barkeri constitutes a potential BCA in several crops especially vegetable greenhouses.

This is the first report of that species from Slovenia.

World distribution: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Benin, Brazil, Burundi, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Cyprus, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Hawaii, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, La Réunion Island, Latvia, Madagascar Island, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Tahiti Island, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, West Bank, Yemen.

Specimens examined: A single ♀ during the two-year survey. Bukovica (altitude above sea level = aasl 49 m, lat. 45°54’06”N, long. 13°39’30”E), 1 ♀ on Cucumis sativus L. ( Cucurbitaceae ), 20/VI/2018.

Remarks: The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens from Spain and by Kreiter et al. (2020) for specimens from La Réunion and various regions of the world.