Phytoseius amba Pritchard & Baker, 1962

Kreiter, Serge, Payet, Rose-My & Azali, Hamza Abdou, 2021, Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) of Anjouan Island (Comoros Archipelago), Acarologia 61 (1), pp. 62-83 : 72-74

Phytoseius amba Pritchard & Baker

Phytoseius (Pennaseius) amba Pritchard & Baker 1962: 224 ; Blommers 1976: 85 ;

Phytoseius (Phytoseius) amba , Denmark 1966: 49 ;

Typhlodromus (Pizytoseius) amba, van der Merwe 1968: 101 ;

Phytoseius amba, Swirski & Ragusa 1978: 408 ;

Pennaseius amba, Matthysse & Denmark 1981: 352 ;

Phytoseius amba, Moraes et al. 1986: 210, 2004b: 232 ; Chant & McMurtry 2007: 129.

This species belongs to the plumifer species group ( Chant and McMurtry 1994) as setae

R1 and J2 are present. Species of the genus Phytoseius are supposed to belong to the Type

III species ( McMurtry and Croft 1997 ; McMurtry et al. 2013), i.e. a polyphagous generalist predator. However, the biology of Phytoseius amba remains totally unknown.

World distribution: Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Kenya, Madagascar Island, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Reunion Island, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Specimens examined: three specimens (3 ♀♀) collected during this study. Pomoni, exit of the village (34 m aasl, 12°17 ′ 01 ″ S, 44°24 ′ 52 ″ E), 3 ♀♀ on an unknown tree with alternate leaves, 30/XI/2018.

Remarks: Measurements of the three adult females agree well with measurements mentioned in the literature, especially with those of Ueckermann et al. (2007) obtained with

Characters Anjouan (2) (this Africa (7) Characters Anjouan (2) (this Africa (7)

study) study)

Dsl 333 – 338 390 (336 – 405) Gensl 128 – 138 –

Dsw 170 – 195 274 (258 – 291) Gensw st5 80 –

j1 34 – 35 34 (30 – 38) Gensw post. corn. 80 – 85 –

j3 22 – 24 23 (19 – 27) st5-st5 75 – 81 80 (67 – 90)

j4 8 – 10 15 (11 – 18) Lisl 28 –

j5 8 – 10 14 (10 – 19) Lisw 2 – 4 –

j6 9 – 11 12 (10 – 16) Sisl Not visible –

J2 12 – 13 13 (10 – 16) Vsl 90 – 95 122 (96 – 130)

J5 6 – 7 5 (3 – 6) Vsw ZV2 60 78 (67 – 85)

r3 15 – 18 18 (16 – 21) Vsw anus 65 – 75 71 (62 – 75)

R1 13 18 (14 – 21) JV5 28 – 30 –

s4 21 – 23 26 (19 – 35) SgeI 20 – 23 –

S2 13 – 15 18 (16 – 22) SgeII 22 – 23 28 (24 – 34)

S4 13 – 15 17 (14 – 21) SgeIII 31 – 33 39 (37 – 45)

S5 13 – 15 16 (14 – 21) StiIII 28 – 30 31 (29 – 37)

z2 13 – 15 20 (16 – 24) SgeIV 43 – 53 57 (51 – 62)

z4 13 – 15 21 (13 – 29) StiIV 40 – 45 44 (34 – 56)

z5 10 14 (13 – 16) StIV 70 58 (51 – 69)

Z1 11 – 13 16 (13 – 21) Scl 30 – 37 35

Z4 13 – 14 16 (11 – 19) Scw 11 – 14 –

Z5 43 39 (32 – 53) Fdl 25 – 26 34 (33 – 35)

st1-st1 55 – Nb teeth Fd Not visible 10

st2-st2 63 – 65 72 (69 – 80) Mdl 23 – 28 38

st3-st3 75 – Nb teeth Md Not visible 4

st1-st3 63 – 65 71 (62 – 77) Sources of measurements – Africa ( Uganda 2♀♀, Kenya 5♀♀):

Moraes et al. (2006); –: not provided.

st4-st4 75 – 81 –

a large number of specimens (29) from various countries in Africa with those of Kreiter et al. (2020d) for specimens from La Réunion and with those of Kreiter et al. (2018b) for specimens from Grande Comore.