Biogeographical analysis within the family Phytoseiidae Berlese (Acari: Mesostigmata): an example from the large sub-genus Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) De Leon

Abstract

Despite their great interest for pest management, the biogeography of the Phytoseiidae is still poorly known. This study focuses on the spatial distribution of one of the largest taxa within the family: the sub-genus Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) currently comprising 322 species. It also provides a description of five discrete morphological characters used to discriminate between species and easily observed. This survey is the first analysis of the combined distribution of both species and associated morphological characters within the family Phytoseiidae. It reveals the great utility of taxonomic data compilation and associated databases for aspects beyong alpha-taxonomy. The highest number of species of Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) was reported from the East Palearctic region and the lowest from the Neotropical province. This was quite surprising as the highest species diversity of Phytoseiidae is reported from this latter region. Several hypotheses are discussed to explain this observation. In provinces showing the highest number of Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) species, we usually also observed the most diverse morphological forms for the five characters considered. High endemism levels were observed in all the provinces considered, even those where only few species were reported (especially the Neotropical province). Possible synonymies are thus discussed, as species could have been described more than once in different biogeographic provinces. Furthermore, some hypotheses are discussed to explain the high species and morphological diversity of the sub-genus Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) in the West and East Palaearctic regions. Further phylogenetic analyses are required to test these different hypotheses.

Survey of phytoseiid mite species (Acari: Phytoseiidae) in citrus orchards in Lattakia governorate, Syria

“…Morphological characteristics of collected specimens were compared with original descriptions or re-descriptions, and also with the electronic polytomous keys to species of some phytoseiid genera (Hernandes et al, 2012;Tixier, 2012: (http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/phytosei idae/feuillepresentationclefs.html)).…”

Pest control by mites (Acari): present and future

“…The systematics of their over 2,450 valid members (Demite et al 2014b) has been proposed (Chant and McMurtry 2007), and more species are being added by collecting in hitherto little canvassed countries (Guanilo et al 2008;Tixier et al 2012;Kreiter et al 2013). Demite et al (2014a, b) provided a database (available at the website www.lea.esalq.usp.br/phytoseiidae) for all species named at that date, and Hernandes et al (2012) provided a polytomus key to the world species of the large subgenus Typhlodromus (Anthoseius). (freely available online with other keys at the website (http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP/phytosei idae/index.html)).…”

“…Beard (1999), Noronha et al (2003) and Kanouh et al (2010), among others, argued that the precise status of phytoseiid species may be difficult to determine only with morphological criteria, yet accurate identifications are crucial in BC programs. Molecular methods are thus increasingly being used (Walter andCampbell 2003, andOkassa et al 2009, among others) to resolve issues like misidentifications and synonymies (Tixier et al 2006;Tixier et al 2011Tixier et al , 2012Bowman and Hoy 2012). The second trend is the realization that some of the common species have strains, or populations, which differ in traits like response to aridity, temperature and (most important) to prey that affect their biocontrol efficacy.…”

“…Maoz et al 2014), and is expected to become more prevalent. The problem of the decreasing number of traditional mite taxonomists could be offset by applying molecular methods (Gaskin et al 2011) and applying statisti-cal methods for morphological continuous characters (Tixier 2012(Tixier , 2013. Next generation sequencing (NGS) was discussed by Pompanon et al (2012), an approach that has the potential to reveal many consumed species simultaneously (DNA metabarcoding) and to identify the species found in pooled samples.…”

Survey of phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata, Phytoseiidae) in citrus orchards and a key for Amblyseiinae in Vietnam

“…Ventral setae smooth. Sternogenital shield smooth, 131 (125-143) long, wider 81 (77-87) between coxae II-III than at posterior corners 41 (38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44) Previous Records -Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental, Australasian, Ethiopian, West Palaearctic and East Palaearctic, almost including all biogeographic realms except Antarctica (Hernandes et al 2011).…”