Euseius ovaloides (Blommers)

Kreiter, Serge & Abo-Shnaf, Reham I. A., 2020, Phytoseiid mites of Rodrigues Island (Acari: Mesostigmata), Acarologia 60 (2), pp. 449-468 : 459-460

Euseius ovaloides (Blommers)

Amblyseius (Amblyseius) ovaloides Blommers 1974: 147 .

Euseius ovaloides Moraes et al. 1986: 51, 2004: 78 ; Chant & McMurtry 2005a: 215, 2007: 121.

Euseius ovaloides was described by Blommers (1974) from specimens collected on Citrus hystrix and Persea americana in Madagascar. Like all Euseius species, this species belongs to the type IV (polliniphagous generalist predators) of McMurtry and Croft (1997) and McMurtry et al. (2013). The species had been occasionally recorded in Madagascar (Blommers 1974), Papua-New Guinea ( Schicha and Gutierrez 1985), Seychelles ( Schicha 1987), La Réunion Island ( Quilici et al. 1997, 2000), Guadeloupe, Martinique and Marie-Galante ( Moraes et al. 2000; Kreiter et al. 2006) on various plants, though its biology remains unknown. It is suspected to be a poor predator of tetranychid mites ( Gutierrez and Etienne 1986), but can be considered as a potentially good predator of thrips and whiteflies. This is one of the most common species on La Réunion Island.

World distribution: Guadeloupe, Madagascar Island, Marie-Galante, Martinique, Papua New Guinea, La Réunion Island, Seychelles Archipelago, Vietnam.

Specimens examined: 102 ♀♀, 13 ♂♂ and 3 im. in total. Port-Mathurin, City Center (11 m aasl, lat. 19°40 ′ 53 ″ S, long. 63°25 ′ 17 ″ E), 10 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on Terminalia cattapa L. ( Combretaceae ), 12 ♀♀ on Ricinus communis L. ( Euphorbiaceae ), 1 ♀ on Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg (Moraceae) , 2 im. on Allamanda cathartica L. ( Apocynaceae ), 8/XI/2020; 1 ♀ on Ziziphus mauritiana Lamarck (Rhamnaceae) , 2 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Jussieu ( Euphorbiaceae ); 3 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on Acalypha wilkesiana Müller Argoviensis (Euphorbiaceae) , 9/XI/2018; 1 ♀ on Polyscias scutellaria (Burman) Fosberg (Araliaceae) , 11 ♀♀ and 2 ♂♂ on Bougainvillea sp. ( Nyctaginaceae ) and 10 ♀♀ on Duranta erecta L. ( Verbenaceae ), 11/XI/2018; 1 ♀ and 2 ♂♂ on Litchi chinensis Sonnerat (Sapindaceae) , 14/XI/2018; Baie aux huitres, Front Sea (8 m aasl, lat. 19°41 ′ 40 ″ S, long. 63°24 ′ 30 ″ E), 2 ♀♀ and 1 im. on Carica papaya L. ( Caricaceae ), 5 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ on P. scutellaria , 3 ♀♀ on Morinda citrifolia L. ( Rubiaceae ), 9/XI/2018; Anse aux Anglais (2 m aasl, lat. 19°40 ′ 33 ″ S, long. 63°26 ′ 05 ″ E), 2 ♀♀ on Tamarindus indica L. and 4 ♀♀ and 2 ♂♂ on Ceasalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Swartz ( Caesalpiniaceae ), 11/XI/2018; Port Sud-Est , Sea Front (2 m aasl, lat. 19°44 ′ 36 ″ S, long. 63°25 ′ 17 ″ E), 13 ♀♀ on R. communis , 11/XI/2018 ; Allée Tamarin (71

m aasl, lat. 19°41 ′ 22 ″ S, long. 63°24 ′ 11 ″ E), 6 ♀♀ and 2 ♂♂ on R. communis and 4 ♀♀ on C. papaya , 12/XI/2018; Plaine-Caverne (45 m aasl, lat. 19°41 ′ 02 ″ S, long. 63°25 ′ 11 ″ E), 1 ♀ on C. papaya , 14/XI/2018; Petite-Butte (80 m aasl, lat. 19°45 ′ 06 ″ S, long. 63°23 ′ 08 ″ E), 1 ♂ on Ixora sp. ( Rubiaceae ), 14/XI/2018; Mont Lubin (346 m aasl, lat. 19°42 ′ 21 ″ S, long. 63°26 ′ 40 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Hibiscus boryanus de Candolle (Malvaceae) , 2 ♀♀ on R. communis and 6 ♀♀ on Terminalia arjuna (Roxburgh) Wight et Arnott (Combretaceae) , 15/XI/2018; Graviers (5 m aasl, lat. 19°43 ′ 37 ″ S, long. 63°28 ′ 59 ″ E), 1 ♀ on Passiflora edulis Sims (Passifloraceae) , 16/XI/2020.

Remarks: this species was reported from several countries of the world especially from Madagascar, Seychelles Archipelago and La Réunion Island ( Quilici et al. 2000; Kreiter et al. 2020c). This species has recently been reported from Vietnam ( Kreiter et al. 2020b). Morphological and morphometric characters and all measurements of our specimens fit well with measurements in Kreiter et al. (2020b). This is the most numerous species collected during this study and just like La Réunion, probably one of the most common species in the Island, with A. largoensis and A. passiflorae .