Phytoseius haroldi Ueckermann & Kreiter

Kreiter, Serge & Abo-Shnaf, Reham I. A., 2020, Phytoseiid mites of Rodrigues Island (Acari: Mesostigmata), Acarologia 60 (2), pp. 449-468 : 461

Phytoseius haroldi Ueckermann & Kreiter

Phytoseius haroldi Ueckermann & Kreiter in Kreiter et al. 2002: 339 ; Chant & McMurtry 2007: 129.

This species belongs to the horridus species group as setae J2 and R1 are absent ( Chant and McMurtry 1994). It was abundant on lower vegetation in a study of companion plants in citrus orchard in La Réunion Island ( Kreiter et al. 2020c). It seems that this species prefers low plants, but despite this observation that has to be confirmed, the biology of this species remains totally unknown.

World distribution: La Réunion Island, Mauritius Island.

Specimens examined: 2 ♀♀ in total. Port-Mathurin, City Center (11 m aasl, lat. 19°40 ′ 53 ″ S, long. 63°25 ′ 17 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Ziziphus mauritiana Lamarck (Rhamnaceae) , 9/XI/2020; Port Sud-Est, Sea Front (2 m aasl, lat. 19°44 ′ 36 ″ S, long. 63°25 ′ 17 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Solanum melongena L. ( Solanaceae ), 11/XI/2018.

Remarks: this species was described by Ueckermann and Kreiter in Kreiter et al. (2002) from La Réunion Island and then reported from Mauritius by Ferragut and Baumann (2019). Morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements of our specimens fit well with measurements of the original description by Kreiter et al. (2002) concerning specimens from La Réunion Island, Ferragut and Baumann (2019) for specimens from Mauritius and Kreiter et al. (2020c) for additional specimens from La Réunion Island.