A new species of Neoseiulus Hughes (Acari: Phytoseiidae) from Karnataka, India with an identification key to Indian species of the genus

Abstract

Neoseiulus ramabettaensis n. sp. Döker and Jose is described based on specimens collected from Karnataka, India. The new species is accommodated to the cucumeris species group and ceratoni species subgroup in the genus Neoseiulus Hughes (Acari: Phytoseiidae). The morphological characters including conspicuously longer setae j1 and j3, in addition to Z4 and Z5, chelicera dentition, wider ventrianal shield at anterior corners, large crescentic preanal pores, absence of macroseta on legs II-IV, and presence of macroseta on genu I distinguished the new species from its congeners in the ceratoni species subgroup. The current study describes a macroseta on leg I (SgeI) for a species listed in the ceratoni species subgroup for the first time. Indeed, the presence of SgeI, and the absence of macroseta on leg IV are unusual characters for the genus Neoseiulus, except SgeI present in a few species in Neoseiulus desertus species group. Therefore, chaetotaxy of legs frequently used in the systematics of other groups of Mesostigmata which are closely related to the phytoseiid mites, seems to be an important morphological character and should be included in future descriptions. In addition, we constructed an identification key for the Indian species of the genus.