Proprioseiopsis ovatus (Garman)

Kreiter, Serge, Payet, Rose-My, Mouigni, Hadji, Douin, Martial, Tixier, Marie-Stéphane & Azali, Hamza Abdou, 2021, New records of phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) of Grande Comore Island (Comoros Archipelago), Acarologia 61 (2), pp. 241-273 : 253-254

Proprioseiopsis ovatus (Garman)

Amblyseiopsis ovatus Garman 1958: 78 .

Typhlodromus (Amblyseius) ovatus, Chant 1959: 90 .

Amblyseiulus ovatus, Muma 1961: 278 .

Typhlodromus ovatus, Hirschmann 1962: 2 .

Proprioseiopsis ovatus, Moraes et al. 1986: 121, 2004b: 184 , Chant & McMurtry 2005a: 15, 2007: 89.

Proprioseiopsis (Proprioseiopsis) ovatus, Karg 1989: 208 .

Proprioseiopsis cannaensis ( Muma 1962) : 4 (synonymy according to Denmark & Evans 2011). Proprioseiopsis peltatus (van der Merwe: 1968): 119 (synonymy according to Tseng 1983). Proprioseiopsis hudsonianus ( Chant & Hansell 1971) : 723 (synonymy according to Denmark

& Evans).

Proprioseiopsis parapeltatus ( Wu & Chou 1981) : 274 (synonymy according to Tseng 1983). Proprioseiopsis antonelli Congdon 2002: 15 (synonymy according to Denmark & Evans 2011).

Proprioseiopsis ovatus belongs to the belizensis species group as genu I has no macrosetae.

As the spermatheca of that species is saccular, it belongs to the belizensis species subgroup

( Chant and McMurtry 2005a). This species is known from Guadeloupe, Marie­Galante and Martinique ( Kreiter and Moraes 1997 ; Moraes et al. 2000 ; Mailloux et al. 2010 ; Kreiter et al. 2018c). It was found in very high numbers only during a previous study on companion plant in Guadeloupe ( Mailloux et al. 2010) and in a recent study in La Réunion (Le Bellec, unpub. data). Proprioseiopsis mexicanus , and P. ovatus seems to be abundant on weeds in the lower vegetation ( Mailloux et al. 2010 ; Kreiter et al. 2018c). Denmark and Evans (2011) indicated that this species is associated with Oligonychus pratensis (Banks) and Brevipalpus spp. It was also found in association with T etranychus e vansi Baker and Pritchard ( Furtado et al. 2014)

but mentioned as an ineffective predator of that species. Despite this information, the biology of P. ovatus remains unknown.

World distribution: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, Hawaii, Honduras, Japan, Malaysia, Martinique Island, Mayotte Island, Mozambique, Peru, Phiippines, Puerto Rico, La Réunion Island, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, USA, Venezuela.

Specimens examined: two specimens (2 ♀♀) collected during this study. Moroni (171 m aasl, lat. 11°40 ′ 47 ″ S, long. 43°16 ′ 27 ″ E), 2 ♀♀ on Bidens pilosa L. ( Asteraceae ), 9/XII/2018.

Remarks: morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements of the two specimens correspond well with measurements of Kreiter et al. (2020a, 2020c) and those given for specimens from La Réunion Island, Mayotte Island and other parts of the world ( van der Merwe 1968, Blommers 1976, Moraes and McMurtry 1983, Moraes et al. 2004a, Moraes et al. 2007 a, Oliveira et al. 2012, Kreiter et al. 2018c).