Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, 1962

Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot View in CoL

Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, 1962: 5 View in CoL ; Swirski et al. 1998: 102 ; Chant & McMurtry 2004: 201.

Typhlodromips swirskii, Moraes et al. 2004b: 227 .

Typhlodromips capsicum Basha, Youssef, Ibrahim & Mostafa 2001: 372 (synonymy according to Abo-Shnaf & Moraes 2014).

Amblyseius enab El-Badry 1967: 178 View in CoL (synonymy according to Abo-Shnaf & Moraes 2014). Amblyseius (Amblyseius) rykei Pritchard & Baker 1962: 249 View in CoL (synonymy according to Zannou et al. 2007).

Amblyseius swirskii View in CoL belongs to the obtusus species group, characterized by the presence of setae J2 and Z1, setae z4 are minute and a female ventrianal shield is neither vase-shaped nor divided. Within this group, it belongs to andersoni View in CoL species subgroup (120 species), as its spermatheca has a cup-shaped calyx. The predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, 1962 View in CoL (Acari: Phytoseiidae View in CoL ) is one of the most efficient predators; it is currently released in more than 50 countries of the world. Originally described in 1962 from almond ( Prunus amygdalus View in CoL [Miller] D.A. Webb) in Bet Dagan, Israel, by Athias-Henriot. The species was reported along the coast of Israel, in the Middle East, Southern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Americas ( Demite et al. 2024).

This species is able to develop not only in the Mediterranean basin but also in subtropical and tropical areas ( Zannou and Hanna 2011). Since it does not enter diapause, it is suitable for use throughout much of the growing season in regions where daytime temperatures regularly exceed 22 °C ( Calvo et al. 2015). Amblyseius swirskii View in CoL is commonly used to control whiteflies and thrips in greenhouse vegetables (especially cucumber, pepper and eggplant) and some ornamental crops, in Europe and North America ( Calvo et al. 2015). The biology of this species and its importance for biocontrol were comprehensively reviewed by Calvo et al. (2015) and Buitenhuis et al. (2015). In 2015, a species ressembling to A. swirskii View in CoL was discovered after a thrips outbreak on peppers and roses on La Réunion Island ( Kreiter et al. 2016a, b), located thousands of kilometres from its supposed native area. Morphological and molecular analysis confirmed its identity as A. swirskii View in CoL ( Kreiter et al. 2016a, b). This is the first record of this species from Ivory Coast.

Specimens examined — 7 ♀♀ collected between 14/III/2017 and 10/III/ 2018 in Abidjan, Anyama Ahoue (aasl 42 m, Lat 5°26′00.87″N, Long 3°55′00.60″W), 3 ♀♀ and 1 ♂ collected between 05/IV/2017 and 17/IV/ 2018 in Toumodi, Yobouekro (aasl 184 m, Lat 6°31′19.196″N, Long 5°6′41.36″W) and 32 ♀♀ collected between 06/04/2017 au 18/03/ 2018 in Yamoussoukro, Ngattakro (aasl 158 m, Lat 6°49′39.443″N, Long 5°17′21.635″W) on Carica papaya L.

World distribution — Argentina, Azerbaijan, Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Georgia, Ghana, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Reunion Island, Saudi Aarabia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tanzania, Türkiye, USA (California and Florida), Yemen.

Remarks — The measurement values ( Tables 5 and 6) are very close to those reported in the literature, especially for specimens from Africa.

Characters Ivory Coast DRC (1) Nigeria 1 Nigeria 2 Other African Characters Ivory Coast DRC (1) Nigeria 1 Nigeria 2 Other African

(1) (this Holotype (1) (1) Countries (14) (1) (this Holotype (1) (1) Countries (14) study) study)

dsl 338 348 377 360 373 (318–421) gensl 123 – – – –

dsw s4 238 266 212 240 272 (248–304) st5-st5 75 78 – – 78 (72–85)

dsw R1 233 – – – – gensw post. corn. 73 – – – –

j1 38 37 36 38 39 (32–45) lisl 30 – – – –

j3 45 50 44 44 48 (40–56) lisw 3 – – – –

j4 5 2 5 2 5 (4–5) sisl 18 – – – –

j5 5 2 5 2 4 (3–5) sisw 1 – – – –

j6 5 4 5 2 6 (5–8) vsl 118 126 – 120 122 (100–141)

J2 5 5 5 2 6 (5–8) vsw ant. corn. 65 70 – 60 73 (64–85)

J5 5 6 5 5 7 (6–8) vsw anus 78 79 – 72 80 (69–91)

r3 18 13 16 10 14 (10–16) gv3 – gv3 28 – – – –

R1 8 8 5 7 8 (5–11) JV5? – – – –

s4 165 158 152 137 165 (133–206) scl 38 31 – 36 40 (34–48)

S2 5 8 6 5 7 (5–8) scw 4 – – – –

S4 5 6 6 5 7 (6–8) SgeI 73 72 – 36 74 (61–96)

S5 4 6 6 5 6 (5–8) SgeII 45 48 – 48 49 (40–59)

z2 5 8 5 7 7 (5–8) SgeIII 63 66 – 66 72 (50–88)

z4 5 6 5 7 7 (5–14) StiIII 45 53 – 53 56 (43–67)

z5 8 4 5 5 5 (4–5) StIII 38 – – – –

Z4 163 174 165 168 172 (144–208) SgeIV 175 186 190 156 209 (157–270)

Z5 385 450 426 394 445 (366–547) StiIV 125 134 137 120 156 (112–208) st1-st1 68 – – – – StIV 87 85 92 84 99 (69–141)

st2-st2 78 78 – – 79 (73–88) fdl, No teeth 35, 13 34, 12 – 13 – 36 34 (33–36), 13–14 st3-st3 83 – – – – mdl, No teeth 38, 3 36 – 36 38 (37–39), 3

st1-st3 69 66 – – 69 (62–82)

st4-st4 85 – – – –

Sources of measurements – DRC ( Democratic Republic of Congo) Holotype: Pritchard & Baker (1962) in Zannou et al. (2007); Nigeria 1: Matthysse & Denmak (1981); Nigeria 2: Moraes et al. (1989b); Other African Countries (Burundi 1♀, Ghana 3♀♀, Ivory Coast 1♀, Kenya 4♀♀, Malawi 1♀, Rwanda 2♀♀, Sierra Leone 1♀, Uganda 1♀): Zannou et al. (2007); –: not provided.