Amblyseius duplicesetus Moraes & McMurtry, 1988

Kreiter, Serge, Payet, Rose-My & Azali, Hamza Abdou, 2021, Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) of Mohéli Island (Comoros Archipelago), Acarologia 61 (1), pp. 94-114 : 97-98

Amblyseius duplicesetus Moraes & McMurtry

Amblyseius duplicesetus Moraes & McMurtry 1988: 13 ; Moraes et al. 2004a: 143, 2004b: 22; Zannou et al. 2007: 10 ; El­Banhawy & Knapp 2011: 25 .

Amblyseius duplicisetus [sic], Chant & McMurtry 2004: 208, 2007: 78.

Like the previous species and for the same reasons, A. duplicesetus belongs to the largoensis species group and to the largoensis species subgroup (Chant and McMurtry 2004a, 2007). First of all found only in Kenya ( Moraes and McMurtry 1988 ; Zannou et al. 2007 ; El­Banhawy and Knapp 2011) and more recently in Sri Lanka ( Moraes et al. 2004a), its biology is totally unknown. This is the second mention of that species in Indian Ocean Islands after Anjouan ( Kreiter et al. 2021).

World distribution: Kenya, Sri Lanka.

Specimens examined: 55 specimens (30 ♀♀, 11 ♂♂ and 14 imm) collected during this study. Fomboni, inside the town (15 m aasl, 12°17 ′ 29 ″ S, 43°44 ′ 35 ″ E), 1 ♀ and

1 ♂ on Annona muricata L. ( Annonaceae ), 2/XII/2018 ; Fomboni, Les­Hauts (60 m aasl,

12°17 ′ 29 ″ S, 43°44 ′ 35 ″ E), 2 ♂♂ and 3 imm. on an unknown host plant, 2/XII/2018 ; Fomboni, University (25 m aasl, 12°17 ′ 3 ″ S, 43°44 ′ 34 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Ricinus communis L. ( Euphorbiaceae ), 3/XII/2018 ; Hoani, inside village (38 m aasl, 12°17 ′ 3 ″ S, 43°44 ′ 34 ″ E),

5 ♀♀, 1 ♂ and 2 imm. on the same unknown host plant than above, 1 ♀, 1 ♂ and 2 imm.

on A. muricata , 10 ♀♀, 2 ♂♂ and 1 imm. on Artocarpus altilis J.R. Forster and G. Forster (Moraceae) and 4 ♀♀, 1 ♂ and 3 imm. on Theobroma cacao L. ( Malvaceae ), 3/XII/2018 ; Bangoma, Les Hauts (137 m aasl, 12°17 ′ 18 ″ S, 43°43 ′ 41 ″ E), 1 ♂ on Cinnamomum odoratum Schäffer (Lauraceae) , 3 ♀♀ and 2 imm. on Annona senegalensis Persoon (Annonaceae) , 1 ♀

on A. muricata , 1 ♀ on Mangifera indica L. ( Anacardiaceae ), 2 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on A. altilis and 1 ♀, 1 ♂ and 1 imm. on Persea americana Miller (Lauraceae) , 4/XII/2018.

Remarks: this is the more abundant species found in several sites. All measurement values fit well those already published on this species with only very slight variations ( Moraes and McMurtry 1988 ; Moraes et al. 2004a ; Zannou et al. 2007 ; El­Banhawy and Knapp 2011 ; Kreiter et al. 2021). Measurement values of female specimens of Mohéli are very similar with values for specimens from Kenya and Sri Lanka, however with some shorter setae just like specimens of Anjouan ( Kreiter et al. 2021). The male of that species will be redescribed in following papers.