Euseius scutalis (Athias-Henriot)

ZahidiK, Abdelaziz, Akchour, Abdellah, K, Serge Kreiter, TixierK, Marie-Stéphane, MsandaK, Fouad & MousadikK, Abdelhamid El, 2023, Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Central West Morocco: new records and key to females of all recorded Moroccan species, Acarologia 63 (3), pp. 691-724 : 703

Euseius scutalis (Athias-Henriot)

Typhlodromus scutalis Athias-Henriot 1958: 183 .

Amblyseius scutalis, Athias-Henriot 1960b .

Amblyseius (Typhlodromalus) scutalis, Muma 1961 .

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) scutalis, Ueckermann & Loots 1988: 109

Amblyseius scutalis, Ueckermann 1992: 149 .

Amblyseius (Euseius) scutalis, Gupta 2003 .

Euseius scutalis, Ferragut & Escudero 1997: 233 ; Swirski et al. 1998: 107 ; Moraes et al. 1986: 52, 2004a: 82 ; Chant & McMurtry 2005: 216, 2007: 123.

Euseius delhiensis ( Narayanan & Kaur, 1960: 5) (Synonymy according to Wysoki & Bolland 1983).

Euseius rubini ( Swirski & Amitai 1961) : 196 (Synonymy according to Amitai & Swirski 1966).

Euseius gossipi ( El-Badry, 1967a) : 177; 1970: 503 (Synonymy according to Wysoki & Bolland 1983).

Euseius libanesi ( Dosse, 1967) : 30 (Synonymy according to Wysoki & Bolland 1983).

Euseius plumerii Romeih et al. 2010: 28 (Synonymy according to Abo-Shnaf & Moraes 2014).

World distribution — Algeria, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Cyprus, Egypt, Ghana, Greece, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Madeira Island ( Portugal), Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Yemen.

Previous records from Morocco — This species was reported by McMurtry and Bounfour (1989) and Tixier et al. (2003, 2016).

Specimens examined — 4 ♀♀ on Solanum nigrum L. ( Solanaceae ) collected at Ouled Abdellah in May 2018 ; 9 ♀♀ + 5 ♂♂ + 4 im. on Ceratonia siliqua L. ( Fabaceae ) collected in April 2019 in Immouzer region at the argan forest.

Remarks — The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Moraes et al. (2001) for specimens from Sub-Saharan Africa. This species is mainly reported from the South of the West Palaearctic region and is found in dry climates. It is very common in Maghreb and South of Spain ( Kreiter et al. 2004) and recorded in Tunisia on many plants including citrus ( Kreiter et al. 2010 ; Sahraoui et al. 2012). This species is able to feed on T. urticae and P. citri ( Abbassy et al. 2012) . It can be reared on pollen and is considered as a biological control agent against phytophagous mites, scale insects, and whiteflies on greenhouse cucumber ( Nomikou et al. 2002).