Neoseiulella armidalensis (Schicha and Elshafie)

Kanouh, M., Kreiter, S., Douin, M. & Tixier, M. - S., 2012, Revision Of The Genus Neoseiulella Muma (Acari: Phytoseiidae). Re-Description Of Species, Synonymy Assessment, Biogeography, Plant Supports And Key To Adult Females, Acarologia 52 (3), pp. 259-348 : 293-295

Neoseiulella armidalensis (Schicha and Elshafie)

( Figure 15 )

Typhlodromus armidalensis Schicha and Elshafie 1980: 36 ; Schicha 1987: 140; Chant and Yoshida-Shaul 1989: 1042. Neoseiulella armidalensis (Schicha and Elshafie) Moraes et al. 1986: 201 ; Moraes et al. 2004: 291; Chant and McMurtry 2007: 147. Neoseiulella (Typhloctona) armidalensis (Schicha and Elshafie) Denmark and Rather 1996: 57.

Adult female ( Figure 15a – e )

Dorsal shield ( Figure 15a ) — Dorsal shield smooth: length 416; width 214 (at level of s4) and 223 (at level of Z1). Five pairs of solenostomes: gd2, gd4, gd5, gd6, and gd9. No poroid visible. Sublateral setae (r3 and R1) on the lateral margin. Dorsal shield bearing 19 pairs of setae, all smooth, except Z5 which is slightly serrated. Lateral setae S4 and S5 on small tubercles in the specimen examined: j1 22; j3 28; j4 13; j5 10; j6 12; J2 broken in the specimen examined ( Chant and Yoshida-Shaul [1989] and Denmark and Rather [1996] mentioned J2 15); J5 11; z2 14; z3 21; z4 18; z5 10; Z1 16; Z4 33; Z5 65; s4 22; s6 17; S2 23; S4 22; S5 22; r3 14 and R1 15. Peritreme extending anteriorly to the level of j1.

Ventral shields ( Figure 15b ) — Sternal shield 90 long and 83 wide (at level of ST2), smooth, with three pairs of setae (ST1, ST2 and ST3) and two pairs of poroids. A pair of metasternal setae (ST4) on separate platelets accompanied by a pair of small poroids. Genital shield 125 long and 73 wide (at level of ST5), smooth. Four elongate platelets or genital sigilla separating the genital and ventrianal shields not discernible on the specimen examined. One pair of poroids close to the genital shield (ST 5) and no poroid visible around the genital shield. Ventrianal shield (in poor conditions in the specimen examined) 134 long and 117 wide (at level of ZV2), smooth, with three pairs of preanal setae (JV1, JV2 and ZV2; JV3 absent) and a pair of small circular solenostomes gv3 posterior to JV2. Four pairs of caudoventral setae (ZV1, ZV3, JV4 and JV5) on the integument surrounding the ventrianal shield. JV5 42 long, smooth. Primary metapodal plate or inguinal sigillum 24 long and 7 wide.

Spermatheca ( Figure 15c ) — Cervix 7 long, cupshaped.

Chelicera ( Figure 15d ) — Eight or nine teeth and pilus dentilis on the fixed digit. Movable digit 35 long, bearing three teeth. Chant and Yoshida-Shaul (1989) mentioned that the pilus dentilis is not visible whereas Schicha (1980, 1987) and Denmark and Rather (1996) drew the pilus dentilis.

Legs ( Figure 15e ) — Measurements of legs: leg I 390; leg II 315; leg III 305; leg IV 408. Seven setae (2- 2/0, 2/0-1) on the genu II. Three knobbed macrosetae, 37, 45 and 47 long, on genu, tibia and basitarsus IV, respectively.

Material examined — One female paratype specimen (deposited in NSW Department of Primary Industries , Agricultural Scientific Collections Unit (Acarology), Orange Agricultural Institute, Australia.

Adult male

The male of this species is unknown.

Previous reports — N. armidalensis is only known from New South Wales ( Australia), on Malus sp. ( Rosaceae ) and Eucalyptus sp. ( Myrtaceae ).

The present examination of the type materials of N. nesbitti and N. armidalensis shows that JV3 is absent; the fixed digit has a pilus dentilis, and that leg IV bears three macrosetae for the two species. Moreover, no difference in setal and body measurements between these two species is observed. We thus propose that N. nesbitti is a senior synonym of N. armidalensis . This conclusion does not agree with those of Chant and Yoshida-Shaul (1989) and Denmark and Rather (1996). The unique difference we observe between N. nesbitti and N. armidalensis is the nature of macrosetae on leg IV (pointed on N. nesbitti , knobbed on N. armidalensis ). Further experiments would be consequently interesting to carry out in order to determine the reliabilty of such a difference for species diagnosis.

From these latter considerations, we thus include 37 valid species in the genus Neoseiulella : N. aceri (Collyer) (senior synonym of N. squamiger [Wainstein], and provisionally of N. aceris [Lehman]); N. arinoi Moraza, Peaea-Estevez and Ferragut ; N. arutunjani (Kuznetsov) ; N. ashleyae (Chant and Yoshida-Shaul) ; N. canariensis Ferragut and Pena-Estevez ; N. carmeli (Rivnay and Swirski) ; N. cassiniae (Collyer) ; N. celtis ( Denmark and Rather); N. compta (Corpuz-Raros) (suspected synonym of N. multispinosa [Tseng] [ Chant and Yoshida-Shaul, 1989]); N. coreen Walter ; N. corrugata (Schicha) ; N. cottieri (Collyer) ; N. crassipilis (Athias-Henriot and Fauvel) ; N. dachanti (Collyer) ; N. elaeocarpi (Schicha) ; N. elongata Ferragut and Pena-Estevez ; N. elisae (Schicha and McMurtry) , N. ferraguti Moraza and Pena-Estevez ; N. litoralis (Swirski and Amitai) ; N. longiseta Moraza, Pena-Estevez and Ferragut ; N. manukae (Collyer) (senior synonym of N. glenfieldensis [Schicha]); N. montforti (Rivnay and Swirski) ; N. myopori (Collyer) ; N. neoviniferae (Basha, Mahrous and Mostafa) ; N. nesbitti (Womersley) (senior synonym of N. armidalensis [Schicha and Elshafie]); N. novaezealandiae (Collyer) ; N. oleariae (Collyer) ; N. perforata (Athias-Henriot) ; N. runiacus (Kolodochka) ; N. spaini (Collyer) ; N. splendida Ferragut and Pena-Estevez ; N. steeli (Shicha and Mc- Murtry); N. steveni (Schicha) ; N. tiliarum (Oudemans) (senior synonym of N. formosa [Wainstein]); N. tuberculata (Wainstein) ; N. sexapori (Karg and Edland) ; N. transitans (Gupta) (senior synonym of N. prunus [ Denmark and Rather], and provisionally a junior synonym of N. vollsella [Chaudhri, Akbar and Rasool] [ Chant and Yoshida-Shaul 1989; Denmark and Rather 1996).

Figures

FIGURE 15: Neoseiulella armidalensis (Schicha and Elshafie). Female (paratype): a – dorsal shield; b – ventral shields; c – spermatheca; d – chelicera; e – leg IV.