Amblyseius herbicolus (Chant)

Kreiter, Serge, Payet, Rose-My, Fillâtre, Jacques & Azali, Hamza Abdou, 2018, First records of Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) from one island of the Comoros Archipelago, Acarologia 58 (3), pp. 529-545 : 531-532

Amblyseius herbicolus (Chant)

Typhlodromus (Amblyseius) herbicolus Chant, 1959: 84 ;

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) herbicolus, Muma 1961: 287 ;

Typhlodromus herbicolus, Hirschmann, 1962: 23 ;

Amblyseius herbicolus, Moraes et al., 1986: 14 ; 1989: 79; 2004: 27; Chant & McMurtry, 2004: 209; 2007: 78;

Amblyseius deleoni Muma & Denmark, 1970: 68 (synonymy according to Daneshvar & Denmark, 1982; Denmark & Muma 1989);

Amblyseius giganticus Gupta, 1981: 33 (synonymy according to Gupta, 1986);

Amblyseius impactus Chaudhri, 1968 , 553 (synonymy according to Daneshvar & Denmark, 1982; Denmark & Muma, 1989);

Amblyseius (Amblyseialus) thermophilus Karg, 1991: 12 (synonymy according to El-Banhawy & Knapp, 2011 and to Demite et al., 2017);

Typhlodromus (Amblyseius) amitae Bhattacharyya, 1968: 677 (synonymy according to Denmark & Muma, 1989).

Amblyseius herbicolus (Chant) is the second most abundant phytoseiid mites on coffee plants ( Coffea arabica L.) in Brazil, associated with Brevipalpus phoenicis (Geijskes) (Acari: Tenuipalpidae ), vector of the coffee ring spot virus. Amblyseius herbicolus was found to be an efficient predator of the coffee ring spot mite ( Reis et al. 2007).

Amblyseius herbicolus is also found associated with the broad mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks in crops such as chili pepper ( Capsicum annuum L.) in Brazil. This species has also a good potential for controlling P. latus . RodrÍguez-Cruz et al. (2013) have studied biological, reproductive and life table parameters of A. herbicolus on three different diets: broad mites, castor bean pollen ( Ricinus communis L.) and sunn hemp pollen ( Crotalaria juncea L.). The predator was able to develop and reproduce on all these three diets. However, its intrinsic growth rate was higher on broad mites and castor bean pollen. Feeding on alternative food such as pollen can facilitate the predator’s mass rearing and maintain its population on crops when prey is absent or scarce. Many polyphagous generalist phytoseiid mites are important natural enemies because they can feed on plant provided pollen and various prey species, and thus persist in crops even in the absence of target pests ( McMurtry et al. 2013). Hence, populations of these predators can be established in a crop by providing alternative food, thus increasing biological control. Alternative food affects P. latus control on chilli pepper plants by predatory mites ( Duarte et al. 2015). Amblyseius herbicolus had high oviposition and population growth rates when fed with cattail pollen Typha (latifolia L.), chilli pepper pollen and bee-collected pollen, and a low rate on the alternative prey Tetranychus urticae Koch. Supplementing pepper plants with pollen resulted in better control of broad mite populations ( Duarte et al. 2015). Release of A. herbicolus on young plants with weekly addition of honeybee pollen or cattail pollen until plants produce flowers seems a viable strategy to sustain populations of this predator ( Duarte et al. 2015).

Specimens examined — Moroni, Adoudja (long. 11°41′S, lat. 43°15′E, alt. 100 m), 1 ♀ + 1 immature on Alocasia macrorrhiza (L.) G. Don ( Araceae ), 2-02-2017; 1 ♀ + 2 immatures on Morinda citrifolia L. ( Rubiaceae ), 2-02-2017.

Previous record — Large distribution worldwide. This species is mentioned from Mozambique, La Réunion Island, Kenya, Tanzania for the closest places.

Remarks ( Table 1) — Measurements of the two females collected fit very well with the measurements reported literature, except for greater dimension of the ventrianal shield and a longer spermatheca for specimens from Grande Comore.