Neoseiulus teke (Pritchard & Baker)

Kreiter, Serge, Payet, Rose-My & Azali, Hamza Abdou, 2021, Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) of Mohéli Island (Comoros Archipelago), Acarologia 61 (1), pp. 94-114 : 96

Neoseiulus teke (Pritchard & Baker)

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) teke Pritchard & Baker 1962: 239 .

Amblyseius teke, Meyer & Rodrigues 1966: 30 ; Moraes et al. 1989a: 83, 1989b: 97.

Neoseiulus teke, Moraes et al. 1986: 98, 2004: 147 ; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 37, 2007: 31. Amblyseius (Amblyseius) bibens Blommers 1973: 111 (synonymy according to Ueckermann and Loots 1988).

Neoseiulus teke belongs to the barkeri species group and the womersleyi species subgroup

( Chant and McMurtry 2003a). This species is found in sub­Saharan Africa often associated with Mononychellus tanajoa (Bondar) , the cassava green mite (CGM). It has been studied for its potential as BCA against the CGM. Nwilene and Nachman (1996) studied its reproduction characteristics on M. tanajoa . It was more efficient than I. degenerans, but seems not efficient enough in field conditions ( Nwilene and Nachman 1996). Quilici et al. (2000) had collected this species before in La Réunion Island and it was recovered recently by Kreiter et al. (2020d).

World distribution: Burundi, DR Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, La

Réunion Island, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe.

Specimens examined: 2 specimens (2 ♀♀) in total. Fomboni, inside the town (15 m

aasl, 12°17 ′ 29 ″ S, 43°44 ′ 35 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Abutilon hirtum (Lamarck) Sweet (Malvaceae) ,

2/XII/2018 ; Fomboni, University (25 m aasl, 12°17 ′ 3 ″ S, 43°44 ′ 34 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Zyzyphus mauritiana Lamarck (Malvaceae) , 3/XII/2018.

Remarks: measurements of morphological characters of Neoseiulus teke female and male specimens from Mohéli Island are very close to measurements for specimens from neighbouring countries, especially from specimens from Mayotte (Kreiter et al. 2020a), La Réunion Island

(Keiter et al. 2020d) and various countries in Africa, except for the holotype ( Zannou et al.

2006) and specimens from South Africa which are larger ( van der Merwe 1965).