Neoseiulus californicus ( McGregor, 1954 )

Farazmand, Azadeh, Jalaeian, Mahdi, Kamali, Hashem, Saboori, Alireza, Tixier, MarieStéphane & Kreiter, Serge, 2023, Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) in four provinces of Iran, Persian Journal of Acarology 12 (1), pp. 21-58 : 26

Neoseiulus californicus ( McGregor, 1954)

Typhlodromus californicus McGregor, 1954: 89 .

Amblyseius californicus, Schuster & Pritchard 1963: 271 .

Cydnodromus californicus, Athias-Henriot 1977: 64 .

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) californicus, Ueckermann & Loots 1988: 150 ; Ehara et al. 1994: 126. Neoseiulus californicus, Moraes et al. 1986: 73 ; Chant & McMurtry 2003 a: 21; Moraes et al. 2004 a: 109; Chant & McMurtry 2007: 25; Guanilo et al. 2008a: 27, 2008b: 19; sensu Athias-Henriot 1977, Beaulieu & Beard, 2018: 469.

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

Typhlodromus chilenensis Dosse, 1958: 55 (synonymy according to Athias-Henriot 1977). Typhlodromus mungeri McGregor, 1954: 92 (synonymy according to Athias-Henriot 1959). Amblyseius wearnei Schicha, 1987: 103 (synonymy according to Tixier et al. 2014).

This species is distributed worldwide (see below) and has been introduced in several countries for biological control issues. It is commercialised and released in various crops to control mite pests, especially Tetranychus urticae Koch and Panonychus ulmi (Koch) . It is also naturally found on uncultivated plants or crops such as apple. Many studies deal with its biology. It is a Type 2 specialized predator of tetranychid mites (McMurtry et al. 2013). Nevertheless, it has characteristics of both specialist and generalist predatory mites ( Castagnoli and Simoni 2003). It prefers to feed on spider mites ( Gomez-Moya et al. 2009), but can also consume other mite species like tarsonemid mites [ Phytonemus pallidus (Banks) ] ( Easterbrook et al. 2001), small insects such as thrips ( Rodriguez-Reina et al. 1992) and even pollen when prey is unavailable ( Rhodes and Liburd 2006). It can migrate from grasses to fruit trees or grapevines and vice versa ( Auger et al. 1999). It is a specialist predator of T. urticae on annual plants and woody species, and of P. ulmi and various Tetranychus spp. (and perhaps eriophyid mites) on trees and less frequently on grapevines ( Auger et al. 1999). Neoseiulus californicus is well known as a biological control agent sold in many countries for the management of spider mites in greenhouses but also in outdoor crops such as fruit crops in Europe. This species was recently recorded and mentioned in La Réunion and Slovenia ( Kreiter et al. 2020a, b).

Specimen examined – one ♀. Mazandaran Province – one ♀, Javarem park (349 m aasl, 52° 54′ 30.47′′ E, 36° 13′ 42.44′′ N) on an unknown host plant, 6VIII.2018 .

World distribution – Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Azores, Brazil, Canada, Canary Islands, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, France, Greece, Guadeloupe Island, Guatemala, Iran, Italy, Japan, La Réunion Island, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Portugal, Senegal, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Syria, Taiwan, Tunisia, Türkiye, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam. Precise distribution in Iran is documented in Kazemi et al. (2022).

Remarks – Neoseiulus californicus is already recorded in Iran but was not reported for Mazandaran Province. The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Tixier et al. (2008) for specimens of the world, by Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens from Spain and by Kreiter et al. (2020b) for specimens from La Réunion and various other regions in the world.