Gynaeseius liturivorus (Ehara)

BarbarK, Ziad, SkinnerK, Margaret, Parker K, Bruce L. & KreiterK, Serge, 2024, Species of Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) predators of thrips and whiteflies: a review, Acarologia 64 (3), pp. 745-767 : 755

Gynaeseius liturivorus (Ehara) was described based on the specimens collected from soybean ( Fabaceae ) from southern Japan. It has been recorded from Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Vietnam ( Demites et al. 2024). It is a generalist predator (type-III) ( Kreiter et al. 2020). It predates on the eggs and larvae of B. tabaci and T. vaporariorum . It was considered of interest for control of S. dorsalis , F. occidentalis and T. palmi , on which the daily consumption average was 7.4-19.4 1 st instar of these preys and laid an average of 1.6-6.8 eggs within 24-48 hours ( Mochizuki, 2009). It became a commercially available biocontrol agent of whiteflies and thrips in Asia in 2013 ( Van Lenteren et al. 2017).

Amblyseius tamatavensis Blommers was described based on the specimens collected from Citrus hystrix de Candolle ( Rutaceae ) from Madagascar. This generalist predator (type III) has been reported from over 40 countries in central and South America, Africa, eastern Asia and Australia ( Demite et al. 2024). Its females can consume eight B. tabaci eggs daily and has 3.5 times higher oviposition rate than those when fed on T. urticae ( Cavalcante et al. 2015a) . However, Massaro and Moraes (2019) observed differences in these parameters among different populations of this species and those having larger dorsal and ventrianal shields has the highest rates of daily predation and oviposition. Variations in predation of this pest were also observed according to leaf characteristics of host plants: higher on cotton, potato and bell pepper and lower on tomato and melon ( Cavalcante et al. 2017 ; Barbosa et al. 2019).

The acarid mite, Aleuroglyphus ovatus (Troupeau) ( Acaridae ), seems to be a suitable host for mass production of this predator ( Cavalcante et al. 2015a). Amblyseius tamatavensis has been marketed in Brazil as a control agent of B. tabaci (releasing 15 adults per plant, suggests the high potential of this species to control B. tabaci in pepper plants) ( Souza and Marucci, 2021). It was also observed to predate on the ficus whitefly Singhiella simplex (Singh) and on F. occidentalis under laboratory conditions ( Döker et al. 2018 ; Jorge et al. 2021).