Iphiseius degenerans (Berlese)

ZahidiK, Abdelaziz, Akchour, Abdellah, K, Serge Kreiter, TixierK, Marie-Stéphane, MsandaK, Fouad & MousadikK, Abdelhamid El, 2023, Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Central West Morocco: new records and key to females of all recorded Moroccan species, Acarologia 63 (3), pp. 691-724 : 704

Iphiseius degenerans (Berlese)

Seius degenerans Berlese 1889: 9 .

Seiulus degenerans, Berlese 1887: 9 .

Amblyseius (Iphiseius) degenerans, Muma 1961: 288 .

Iphiseius (Iphiseius) degenerans, Prichard & Baker 1962: 299 .

Typhlodromus degenerans, Hirschmann 1962: 2 .

Amblyseius degenerans, Zaher 1986: 99 .

Iphiseius degenerans, Berlese 1921: 95 ; Chant 1959: 110 ; Moraes et al. 1986: 61, 2004a: 92 ; Chant & McMurtry 2005: 218, 2007: 12.

Iphiseius martigellus El-Badry 1968: 325 (Synonymy according to Chant & McMurtry 2005: 217).

World distribution — Algeria, Azores, Benin, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Cyprus, DR Congo, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Grande Comore Island, Greece, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Madagascar Island, Madeira Island, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, Portugal, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South-Africa, Syria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, USA, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Previous records from Morocco — It was reported from Morocco by McMurtry and Bounfour (1989) and by Tixier et al. (2003) on Nerium oleander L. ( Apocynaceae ) in Gorges of Zegzel.

Specimens examined — 3 ♀♀ on Cupressus spp. ( Cupressaceae ) collected at Errahim domain in July 2017 ; 2 ♀♀ and 1 ♀ on the same previous substrate in May 2017 respectively at Taoufiqui 1 and 2 orchards.

Remarks — The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Döker et al. (2018) for specimens from Turkey. This species has a wide distribution in Africa and South Europe and around the Mediterranean Sea ( Swirski and Amitai, 1997b ; Moraes et al, 2004a ; Sahraoui et al, 2012). It is described by McMurtry and Croft (1997) as a generalist (type III predator), able to feed on a wide range of food such as thrips larvae, spider mites, and pollen ( Nwilene and Nachman 1996 ; Van Rijn and Tanigoshi 1999 ; Vantornhout et al. 2004 ; Messelink et al. 2006). This species is commercialised for biological control of the western flower thrips Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) in greenhouses ( Vantornhout et al. 2005).