Typhlodromips shi (Pritchard & Baker)

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 : 248

Typhlodromips shi (Pritchard & Baker)

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) shi Pritchard & Baker 1962: 252 .

Typhlodromips shi, Moraes et al. 1986: 147, 2004: 224 , Chant & McMurtry 2005c: 327, 2007:

63.

Typhlodromips ivoloinae Blommers 1974: 146 (synonymy according to Ueckermann & Loots 1988).

This species belongs to the culmulus species group of the genus Typhlodromips with nine other species. It was described under the name ivoloinae by Blommers (1974) from Madagascar on Citrus lemon (L.) Burman ( Rutaceae ). Mayotte Island is approximately 340 km away from the Madagascar coast and it is not surprising to find this species on a close by island. But Grand Comore is further from Madagascar but closer to Mozambique than Mayotte. The species was not reported from Mascareignes Archipelago. Its biology is totally unknown.

World distribution: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mayotte Island, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone.

Specimens examined: 19 specimens (10 ♀♀, 3 ♂♂) collected during this study. Mvouni, University of Comoros (434 m aasl, lat. 11°43 ′ 11 ″ S, long. 43°16 ′ 31 ″ E), 4 ♀♀ Stachytarpheta jamaicensis L. (Vahl ( Verbenaceae ) and 2 ♀♀ on Rubus rosifolius Smith (Rosaceae) and 1 ♀ on Clidemia hirta L. ( Melastomataceae ), 6/XII/2018 ; Djoumoichongo (230 m aasl, lat. 11°48 ′ 34 ″

S, long. 43°17 ′ 37 ″ E), 3 ♂♂ and 3 ♀♀ on Tristemma mauritianum L. ( Melastomataceae ), 10/XII/2018.

Remarks: morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements ( Tables 3 and 4) fit well with those provided in the literature, except for s4 and Z4 for females which are longer in specimens from Grande Comore and s4, Z4 and macrosetae of leg IV which are also longer in specimens collected during this study. The presence of this species on Madagascar and Mayotte Island (Kreiter et al. 2020a) makes Grande Comore the third island of the Indian Ocean known for hosting this species.