Neoseiulella tiliarum (Oudemans)

Kreiter, Serge, Amiri, Karima, Douin, Martial, Bohinc, Tanja, Trdan, Stanislav & Tixier, Marie-Stéphane, 2020, Phytoseiid mites of Slovenia (Acari: Mesostigmata): new records and first description of the male ofAmblyseius microorientalis, Acarologia 60 (2), pp. 203-242 : 229

Neoseiulella tiliarum (Oudemans)

Typhlodromus tiliarum Oudemans 1930a: 51-52 .

Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) tiliarum, Chant 1959: 65 .

Typhloctonus tiliarum, Muma 1961: 299 .

Typhlodromus (Nesbitteius) tiliarum, Wainstein 1962: 22-23 .

Seiulus tiliarum, Abbasova 1972: 21 ; Karg 1982: 205; Karg & Edland 1987: 387.

Seiulus (Typhloctonus) tiliarum, Beglyarov 1981: 19 .

Neoseiulella (Typhloctona) tiliarum , Denmark & Rather 1996: 58-59.

Neoseiulella tiliarum, Chant & McMurtry 1994: 248 ; Moraes et al. 2004: 296; Chant & McMurtry 2007: 147.

Typhlodromus formosus Wainstein 1958: 206-207 (synonymy according to Chant 1959).

Like the previous species, N. tiliarum belongs to the tiliarum species group.

Neoseiulla tiliarum is more common in this study than the previous Neoseiulella species (see above). It was the most common phytoseiid species on the surveyed urban linden trees in Czech Republic in a recent study ( Kabicek 2019). Significantly more specimens of N. tiliarum were captured in this Czech study within the well-developed domatia created by overlapping trichomes in the vein axils and near the raised hairy veins on the underside of leaves of Tilia platyphyllos , and all specimens of N. tiliarum were detected within the similar sheltered leaf tuft domatia microhabitat on the abaxial leaf area of Tilia cordata ( Barret 1994; Kabicek 2019). The vast majority of specimens of N. tiliarum sheltered more deeply within the domatia and persisted within the protected leaf domatia and vein microhabitats when they were repeatedly disturbed. The obvious preference for the sheltered leaf microhabitats among N. tiliarum detected on both surveyed Tilia spp. is consistent with the results obtained from grapevines ( Kreiter et al. 2000, 2002) and Tilia spp. ( Barret 1994). The frequent occurrence and persistence of slowly moving specimens of N. tiliarum on the unprotected leaf surface could be hazardous to them, so they prefer the sheltered leaf microhabitats and use the same shelter-based method of defensive strategy to avoid possible macro-predators, similarly to N. aceri and K. aberrans ( Kabicek 2005, 2008). Neoseiulella tiliarum has been observed on diverse deciduous trees ( Chant and Yoshida-Shaul 1989), plant supports observed below can provide appropriate habitat niches for the survival and persistence of this generalist predator type III ( McMurtry et al. 2013) in urban and non-urban areas. Despite this information, the biology of that species remains totally unknown.

This species was already recorded from Slovenia ( Miklavc 2006; Bohinc and Trdan 2013).

World distribution: Algeria, Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA.

Specimens examined: 14 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ in total. Arnovo Selo (aasl 192 m, lat. 47°58’07”N, long. 15°33’49”E), 4 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on Rubus fruticosus L. ( Rosaceae ), 19/VI/2018; Izola-Pivol (aasl 30 m, lat. 45°32’27”N, long. 13°40’51”E), 1 ♀ on Juglans regia L. ( Juglandaceae ), 21/VI/2018; Ljubljana, Botanical garden (aasl 296 m, lat. 46°02’02”N, long. 14°30’51”E), 4 ♀♀ on Celtis australis L. ( Cannabaceae ), 21/VI/2018; Ljubljana, Azur Hotel (aasl 296 m, lat. 46°02’42”N, long. 14°28’25”E), 1 ♀ on Aesculus hippocastanum L. ( Sapindaceae ), 21/VI/2018; Pragersko, Kvedrova ulica (aasl 250 m, lat. 46°23’48”N, long. 13°40’11”E), 1 ♀ on Prunus cerasus L. ( Rosaceae ), 20/VI/2019; Veržej, Kasač Restaurant (aasl 182 m, lat. 46°34’44”N, long. 16°09’45”E), 1 ♀ on Tilia cordata Miller (Malvaceae) , 20/VI/2019; Veržej, Near the football stadium (aasl 182 m, lat. 46°35’27”N, long. 16°10’1”E), 1 ♀ on Ulmus minor L. ( Ulmaceae ), 20/VI/2019; Bled, Lake (aasl 478 m, lat. 46°22’4”N, long. 14°05’06”E), 1 ♀ on U. minor , 21/VI/2019.

Remarks: The measurements of the adult females collected agree well with those provided by Kanouh et al. (2012) for the holotype and with Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens from Spain.