Typhlodromips amilus De, 1967

Kreiter, S., Mailloux, J., Tixier, M. - S., Le Bellec, F., Douin, M., Guichou, S. & Etienne, J., 2013, New Phytoseiid Mites Of The French West Indies, With Description Of A New Species, And New Records (Acari: Mesostigmata), Acarologia 53 (3), pp. 285-303 : 296

Typhlodromips amilus De Leon

Typhlodromips amilus De Leon, 1967: 28 , senior synonym of Typhlodromips bhoraii De Leon, in Denmark et al., 1999: 37-38.

The biology of this species found only two times, in Trinidad Island on Cedrela sp. and on an unknown Bromeliaceae by De Leon (1967) and on Hevea brasiliensis by Ferla and Moraes (2002) is unknown. This species is mentioned and indicated as a senior synonym of T. bhoraii De Leon in the catalogue of Denmark et al. (1999).

Previous Records — Brazil, Trinidad ( De Leon, 1967; Denmark et al., 1999; Moraes et al., 2004b).

Specimens examined — Guadeloupe, Basse- Terre , Petit-Bourg , Domaine Duclos de l’INRA Antilles-Guyane, 16°12’N, 61°39’W, alt. 85 m, 1 ♀ on Spathodea campanulata, Kreiter coll., 3 January 2009 .

Remarks — this is the first record of this species in the West Indies. The measurements of the single specimen collected fit rather well the measurements given by De Leon (1967) and by Denmark et al. (1999). All setae are however slightly shorter, between 1 and 5 µm, which represent less than 10 % of variation, which is less than the intraspecific variation of 20 % around the mean defined by Tixier (2012). In addition, Denmark et al. (1999) mentioned that T. amilus is a species submitted to variation in lengths of setae.

The measurements of the single adult female presently found are as follow: dorsal shield reticulated, dorsal shield length 355, width 183, six solenostomes (gd 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9), j1 18, j3 20, j4 10, j5 13, j6 10, J2 13, J5 8, z2 15, z4 15, z5 11, Z1 13, Z4 33, Z5 53, s4 20, S2 16, S4 15, S5 10, r3 10, R1 13, Z4 and Z5 serrated, st1-st1 52, st2-st2 63, st1-st3 58, posterior margin of the sternal shield straight, metapodal 1 length 15, width 5, metapodal 2 length 10, width 2, ventrianal shield 100 long, 90 wide at level of anterior corners and 80 wide at level of anus, 3 poroids around the ventrianal shield, JV5 28, spermatheca 18 long and 8 width, SgeI 15, SgeII 13, SgeIII 13, StiIII 20, SgeIV 28, StiIV 13, StIV 30, macrosetae all knobbed, fixed digit of chelicerae 28, mobile digit of chelicerae 28, 8-9 denticles on fixed digit and 3 on mobile digit.