Neoseiulella pentaporus Döker, Robin, and Kaur, 2025

Neoseiulella pentaporus Döker, Robin, and Kaur sp. nov. belongs to the tiliarum species group of Chant (1959) due to its dorsal setae of approximately uniform length and the presence of ventral seta JV3. Among the 30 nominal species in this group, the new species shows close affinity to N. vollsella (Chaudhri, Akbar and Rassol, 1974) , N. prunus ( Denmark and Rather, 1984), N. celtis Denmark and Rather, 1996, and N. transitans ( Gupta, 1981) in terms of the nature of dorsal and ventral aspects, including the ventrianal shield and chelicera dentition ( Chant and Yoshida-Shaul 1989 ; Kanouh et al. 2012 ; Stathakis et al. 2016 ; Döker 2018).

The former was described from Pakistan, while the latter three were described from Jammu & Kashmir, India. However, N. prunus and N. transitans are both considered junior synonyms of N. vollsella ( Chant and Yoshida-Shaul 1989 ; Kanouh et al. 2012). The new species is distinctly different from all of these species by possessing five pairs of solenostomes gd ( 4 and gd6 present) on the dorsal shield and only two knobbed macrosetae on leg IV. In contrast, N. vollsella have only three pairs of solenostomes and three knobbed macrosetae on leg IV ( Chant and Yoshida-Shaul 1989 ; Kanouh et al. 2012). Some of dorsal setae, ventral seta JV5, and macroseta on basitarsus IV of the new species are generally longer compared to the type material descriptions of other species. These setae are between 25–33% longer, with the new species falling outside the range previously considered as intraspecific variation but now falling within interspecific variation between the two species ( Tixier 2012). In addition, N. celtis has only one pair of solenostomes ( gd9) on the dorsal shield and a single knobbed macroseta on leg IV. The dorsal seta Z 4 in N. celtis (20) is conspicuously shorter than that of the new species (35–37). The significance of a single pair of solenostomes in distinguishing closely related species within the genus Kampimodromus Nesbitt and Neoseiulus Hughes , has been previously confirmed by molecular analyses in several studies ( Döker et al. 2018 ; Khaustov et al. 2022). Moreover, variation in the number of knobbed macrosetae is linked to species complexes in the subgenus Anthoseius De Leon , another taxonomic group in the family Phytoseiidae , but still within the subfamily Typhlodrominae ( Ueckermann et al. 2008, 2021 ; Döker et al. 2024a).