Neoseiulus houstoni Schicha

Neoseiulus houstoni, Schicha 1987: 111; Chant & McMurtry 2003a: 23; Moraes et al. 2004: 123.

Neoseiulus recifensis Gondim Jr. & Moraes 2001: 77 (synonymy according to Kreiter et al. 2020c).

Neoseiulus barreti Kreiter in Furtado et al. 2005: 135 (synonymy according to Kreiter et al. 2020c).

This species belongs to the cucumeris species group of Neoseiulus . It was collected on Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walpers in Queensland, Australia and described by Schicha (1987). Then described a long time after under two different species names, N. recifensis Gondim Jr and Moraes and N. barreti Kreiter. Kreiter et al. (2020c) had put those two species as junior synonyms of N. houstoni and described for the first time the male of N. houstoni . Biology of this species remains totally unknown and it is the first record from Mauritius.

World distribution: Australia, Brazil, Reunion Island.

Specimens examined: 2 ♀♀ in total. Pamplemousse, Botanical Garden (altitude above sea level = aasl 41 m, lat. 20°06 ′ 24 ″ S, long. 57°34 ′ 49 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Acacia glauca Willdenow (Fabaceae), 3/XI/2018 ; Bel Ombre, Resorts (aasl 11 m, lat. 20°06 ′ 24 ″ S, long. 57°34 ′ 49 ″ E) , 1 ♀ on Thespesia populneoides (L.) Solander ex Corrêa ( Malvaceae), 5/XI/2018.

Remarks: morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements fit well measurements in Kreiter et al. (2020c). This species was described from Australia, but recorded also in Brazil and was first mentioned in the Indian Ocean from La Réunion Island, an Island distant of only 225 km from Mauritius. Several species were shared by the two Islands and probably by many others.