Typhlodromus paspalivorus De Leon, 1957: 143

Ostovan, H., Faraji, F., Kamyab, F. & Khadempour, F., 2012, Notes On Neoseiulus Paspalivorus (De Leon) And Proprioseiopsis Messor (Wainstein) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) Collected In Iran, Acarologia 52 (1), pp. 51-58 : 53-54

Typhlodromus paspalivorus De Leon, 1957: 143 .

Female — One specimen measured.

Idiosomal setal pattern — 10A:9B/JV-3:ZV.

Dorsal idiosoma ( Figure 1A ) — Dorsal shield 348 long and 155 wide at j 6 level, strongly reticulated; with a slight waist at level of seta R 1 and with a shoulder at level of seta r 3; dorsal setae smooth, except for Z 5, serrate; lengths: j 1 11, j 3 11, j 4 9, j 5 9, j 6 9, J 2 (missing), J 5 9, z 2 10, z 4 10, z 5 8, Z 1 10, Z 4 15, Z 5 52, s 4 11, S 2 11, S 4 13, S 5 16; setae r 3 12 and R 1 10 on lateral integument .

Peritreme — Extending to the level of setae j 1

( Figure 1A ).

Ventral idiosoma ( Figure 1B ) — Sternal shield moderately reticulated 91 long and 63 wide at level of setae ST 2; sternal setae short, ST 1-3 9 – 10, ST 4 12, ST 4 on metasternal shields; genital shield lightly reticulated, width 65 at widest point, ST 5 13; 2 pairs of metapodal shields, primary narrow and 40 long and accessory 8 long; ventrianal shield subquadrate, with light reticulation, length 108, width at level of setae ZV 2 85 and width at level of paranal setae 73; with 3 pairs of short preanal setae JV 1 9, JV 2 9, ZV 2 9; 4 pairs of setae surrounding ventrianal shield on integument, JV 4 10, JV 5 21, ZV 1 9, ZV 3 8; ventrianal shield with a pair of small round pores posteromesad to JV 2, distance between these pores 35 almost equal to distance between JV 2 -JV 2 insertions. Spermatheca — Calyx cup-shaped 6 long and 7 wide; atrium c-shaped. ( Figure 1C ).

Chelicera — Fixed digit 20 long with 7 teeth and a pilus dentilis; movable digit 24 long with 1 tooth ( Figure 1D ).

Legs — Leg IV ( Figure 1E ) with only one short macroseta on basitarsus, pointed apically, StIV 16 long; other legs without macrosetae; genua and tibiae I-II-III-IV with 10-8-7-7 and 10-7-7-6 or 7 setae, respectively (left and right tibiae with 6 and 7 setae, respectively).

Specimen examined — One female, June 2010, soil under a palm tree, Bandarabbas, Iran, collector: Fariba Kamyab.

Remarks — Members of the species group paspalivorus are mainly characterized by having the dorsal shield strongly reticulate and narrow, usually with a shoulder at the level of r 3 and by having ventral setae very short ( Chant and McMurtry 2003). One more character that should be considered for this species group is the reticulation on genital shield. Chant and McMurtry (2003) listed 14 nominal species in the paspalivorus species group suggesting N. baraki ( Athias-Henriot 1966) and N. benjamini ( Schicha 1981) as possible synonyms of N. paspalivorus . Zannou et al. (2006) treated N. baraki and N. benjamini as valid species and separated N. benjamini from the other closely related species by having seta ST 4 off metasternal shield. This character was possibly taken from the original description of Schicha (1981) without examining the type material. In re-describing N. benjamini, Ueckermann and Loots (1988) by examining the holotype female and Lofego et al. (2009) by re-describing Brazilian specimens, depicted seta ST 4 on metasternal shield. Beard (2001) briefly re-described N. benjamini collected from pineapple in Queensland without mentioning the metasternal shield. One of her two deposited slides in Queensland Museum clearly shows that ST 4 is inserted on the metasternal shield (Pers. Comm. of Owen Seeman with F. Faraji). The position of ST4 could not be confirmed based on the holotype specimen because of the poor condition of the specimen (Pers. Comm. of Danuta Knihinicki with F. Faraji). Therefore, we are questioning the validity of this character to distinguish N. benjamini from the other species. In N. baraki the number of teeth on the movable digit of chelicerae is not consistent. Zannou et al. (2006) mentioned one tooth while Athias-Henriot (1966) mentioned two. Lofego et al. (2009) showed a similar variability in N. benjamini for the number of cheliceral teeth on both digits. Examination of more specimens is necessary to clear this up in N. baraki . For N. paspalivorus, De Leon (1957) pointed out 4 to 6 teeth on the fixed digit of chelicerae. The Iranian specimen shows 7 teeth, which was also men-

Ostovan H. et al.

tioned by Palevsky et al. (2009). Recently, Sourassou et al. (2011) examined three populations ( Brazil, Benin and Ghana) of the species morphologically identified as N. paspalivorus . Despite morphological similarity, inter-population crosses showed reproductive isolation between the three populations indicating that the tested specimens are distinct biological entities. The single collected specimen from Iran resembles the original description of N. paspalivorus in all respects. The Iranian specimen does not show any significant morphometric differences from those of the three populations provided by Sourassou et al. (2011).

Figures

FIGURE 1: Neoseiulus paspalivorus (De Leon) (Female): A – Idiosoma, dorsal view; B – Idiosoma, ventral view; C – Spermatheca; D – Chelicera; E – Leg IV.