Euseius ovaloides (Blommers)

Kreiter, Serge, Abo-Shnaf, Reham I. A. & Payet, Rose-My, 2020, Phytoseiid mites of Mayotte Island (Acari: Mesostigmata), Acarologia 60 (3), pp. 622-642 : 633-634

Euseius ovaloides (Blommers)

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) ovaloides Blommers 1974: 147 .

Euseius ovaloides, Moraes et al. 1986: 51, 2004: 78 ; Chant & McMurtry 2005a: 215, 2007:

121.

Euseius ovaloides was described by Blommers (1974) from specimens collected on Citrus hystrix de Candolle (Rutaceae) and Persea americana Miller (Lauraceae) in Madagascar. Like all Euseius species , this species belongs to the type IV (polliniphagous generalist predators) of McMurtry and Croft (1997) and McMurtry et al. (2013). The species had been occasionally recorded from Madagascar (Blommers 1974), Papua-New Guinea ( Schicha and Gutierrez 1985), Seychelles ( Schicha 1987), La Réunion Island, ( Quilici et al. 1997, 2000, Kreiter et al. 2020c), Guadeloupe, Martinique and Marie-Galante ( Moraes et al. 2000; Kreiter et al. 2006)

on various plants, though its biology remains unknown. It is suspected to be a poor predator of tetranychid mites ( Gutierrez and Etienne 1986), but can be considered as a potential predator of thrips and whiteflies. This is one of the most common species on La Réunion Island ( Kreiter et al. 2020c).

World distribution: Guadeloupe, Madagascar Island, Marie-Galante, Martinique, Papua New Guinea, La Réunion Island, Seychelles Archipelago.

Specimens examined: 4 ♀♀ specimens in total. L’Abattoir, City Center (15 m aasl,

12°47 ′ 18 ″ S, 45°16 ′ 21 ″ E), 4 ♀♀ Carica papaya L. ( Caricaceae ), 27/XI/2018.

Remarks: this species was recently reported from Vietnam (Kreiter et al. 2020b). Morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements of our specimens fit well with measurements in Kreiter et al. (2020b). This species was the second more collected species in our study concerning Mauritius ( Kreiter & abo-Shnaf 2020b) Phytoseiidae after A. herbicolus and it was also very common in La Réunion ( Kreiter et al. 2020c), but less common in Mayotte Island.

Mayotte (2) South Africa Mayotte (2) South Africa Characters Kenya (2) Characters Kenya (2)

(this study) (3) (this study) (3)

Dsl 313 – 338 321 (311 – 332) 348 – 353 Gensl 120 – –

Dsw 175 – 188 223 (216 – 230) 219 – 224 Gensw st5 63 78 –

j1 35 – 38 42 (41 – 43) 38 – 42 Gensw post. corn. 95 – 97 – 102

j3 55 – 64 84 (78 – 89) 78 – 83 Lisl 25 – 30 – –

j4 4 8 5 – 10 Lisw 3 – –

j5 4 7 (5 – 8) 5 – 10 Sisl Not visible – –

j6 7 – 8 11 5 – 10 Vsl 80 86 103 – 107 J2 9 11 12 – 14 Vsw ZV2 50 59 –

J5 6 5 5 – 10 Vsw anus 65 – 75 70 78 – 83

r3 14 23 (22 – 25) – gv3 - gv3 30 – –

R 1 13 – 14 15 (14 – 16) – JV5 75 – 80 – 100 – 103

s4 113 – 135 151 145 – 152 SgeI 25 30 –

S2 35 – 40 34 (32 – 35) 28 – 35 SgeII 25 – 28 30 –

S4 33 – 38 28 (27 – 30) 28 – 35 SgeIII 34 38 –

S5 38 – 43 38 (35 – 41) 28 – 35 StiIII 35 32 –

z2 24 – 30 35 (32 – 38) 37 – 46; SgeIV 48 – 50 62 (59 – 65) 59 – 61

z4 100 123 (122 – 124) 112 – 120 StiIV 40 – 45 49 54 – 57

z5 4 8 7 – 9 StIV 100 – 103 119 (116 – 122) 121 – 126 Z4 114 – 120 134 (127 – 140) 130 – 136 Scl 30 – 38 26 (25 – 27) 45

Z5 110 – 113 115 (111 – 119) 130 – 136 Scw 5 – –

st1-st1 56 – 60 – – Fdl, No teeth Fd 23 - 25, 6 – –, 6 st2-st2 68 66 (65 – 68) – Mdl, No teeth Md 23 - 25, 1 – –, 1 st3-st3 75 – 80 – – Sources of measurements – Kenya (identified as Euseius papayana and named Moraeseius papayana by Chant & McMurtry 2005b): Moraes et al. (2001); st1-st3 58 – 60 62 –

South Africa: van der Merwe (1965); –: not provided.

st4-st4 80 – 85 – –