Neoseiulus

Neoseiulus

Taxonomic placing: Acari Mesostigmata, Phytoseiidae.

Geographic distribution: Worldwide, due to being in commerce.

Host plants: Many indigenous and introduced plants.

Morphology: The body of non-feeding adults is yellowish, that of feeding mites often the color of the prey. The dorsum is 0.5-1.0 mm in length, almost smooth or lightly sclerotized, with some reticulations and 17 pairs of short, nude setae. The sternal plate bears 3 pairs of setae, and there is a single macroseta on leg IV.

Life history: The mites complete a generation in 1-2 weeks at 25°C, live for 4-5 weeks and lays about 30 eggs/female, depending on the available diet (prey and/or pollen). They may even feed on young stages of other Phytoseiidae. For commerce they are mass-reared on stored-food mites, such as various Acaridae.

Economic importance: These predators prey on and control several major pests, including thrips, such Thrips tabaci and Frankliniella occidentalis and the pestiferous psyllid Diaphorina citri Kuwayama. Other prey include Acarine pests, such as broad mite and Phytonemus pallidus (Banks), as well as several pestiferous spider mites (Tetranychidae). All three species are being produced and sold by several companies world-wide.

Effect of pesticides: Most pesticides kill these predators but spinosads and Insect growth regulators have little effect. They survive low, but not high, rates of some oils and of insecticidal soaps. Neem induced repellency and reduced fecundity.

Important species of Neoseiulus in the Middle East

Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes is an indigenous efficient predator of thrips, broad mite and spider mites.

Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) is an effective natural enemy of citrus and avocado spider mites. It was introduced into Israel but its numbers declined due to competition with indigenous phytoseiids. An artificial diet for this predator is available.

Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) (initially known as Typhlodromus thripsi MacGill and then as Amblyseius cucumeris (Oudemans )) was the first phytoseiid shown to prey on thrips. It is an indigenous species that feeds on thrips and on spider mites. Abroad it attcaks the pestiferous Diaphorina citri.

References

Abd El-Wahed, N.M., El-Sayed, K.M. and EL-Ghobashy, M.S. 2011. Biological control of the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch) using the predatory mite, Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oud.) on apple trees. Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research 89: 951-958.

Arthurs, S. (and 6 co-authors). 2009. Evaluation of Neoseiulus cucumeris and Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as biological control agents of chilli thrips, Scirtothrips dorsalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) on pepper. Biological Control 49: 91–96.

Beard, J.J. 1999. Taxonomy and biological control: Neoseiulus cucumeris (Acari: Phytoseiidae), a case study. Australian Journal of Entomology 38: 51-59.

de Courcy-Williams, M.E., 2001. Biological control of thrips onornamental crops: interactions between the predatory mite Neoseiulus cucumeris (Acari: Phytoseiidae) and western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), on cyclamen. Biocontrol Science and Technology 11: 41–55.

Fan, Y.-Q and Petitt, F.L. 1994. Biological control of broad mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks), by Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes on pepper. Biological Control 4: 390-395.

Fang, X., Lu, H., Ouyang, G., Xia, Y., Guo, M. and Wu, W. 2013. Effectiveness of two predatory mite species (Acari: Phytoseiidae) in controlling Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae). Florida Entomologist 96: 1325-1333.

Jafari, S., Fathipour, Y. and Faraji, F. 2012. Temperature-dependent development of Neoseiulus barkeri (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on Tetranychus urticae (Acari: Tetranychidae) at seven constant temperatures. Insect Science 19: 220–228.

Kim, S-S., Seo, S-G., Park, J-D., Kim, S-G. and Kim, D.I. 2005. Effects of selected pesticides on the predatory mite, Amblyseius cucumeris (Acari: Phytoseiidae). Journal of Entomological Science 40: 107-114.

Li, Y.-Y. (and 6 co-authors) 2017. Does long-term feeding on alternative prey affect the biological performance of Neosiulus barkeri (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on the target spider mites? Journal of Economic Entomology 110: 915-923.

MacGill EI. 1939. A gamasid mite (Typhlodromus thripsi n.sp.), a predator of Thrips tabaci Lind. Annals of Applied Biology 26: 309-317.

Oetting, R.D., Latimer, J.G., 1995. Effects of soaps, oils and plant growth regulators (PGRs) on Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) and PGRs on Orius insidiosus (Say). Journal of Agricultural Entomology 12: 101–109.

Palevsky, E., Gerson, U. and Zhang, Z.-Q. 2013. Can exotic phytoseiids be considered ‘benevolent invaders’ in perennial cropping systems? Experimental and Applied Acarology 59: 11-26.

Sarwar, M. 2016. Comparative life history characteristics of the mite predator Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on mite and pollen diets. International Journal of Pest Management 62:140-148.

Song,Z.-W., Nguyen, D.T., Li., D.-S. and De Clercq, P. 2019. Continuous rearing of the predatory mite Neoseiulus californicus on an artificial diet. BioControl 64: 125-137.

Spollen, K.M., Isman, M.B., 1996. Acute and sublethal effects of a neem insecticide on the commercial biological control agents Phytoseiulus persimilis and Amblyseius cucumeris (Acri: Phytoseiidae) and Aphidoletes aphidimyza (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 89: 1379- 1386.

Touvinen, T. 2000. Integrated control of the strawberry mite (Phytonemus pallidus) in the Nordic multi-year growing system. Acta Horticulturae 525: 389-391.

Weintraub, P.G., Kleitman, S., Mori, R., Shapira, N. and Palevsky, E. 2003. Control of the broad mite (Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks)) on organic greenhouse sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) with the predatory mite, Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans). Biological Control 27: 300–309.

Zhang, Y.-X., Zhang, Z.-Q., Chen, C.-P., Lin, J.-Z. and Chen, X. 2001. Amblyseius cucumeris (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as a biocontrol agent against Panonychus citri (Acari: Tetranychidae) on citrus in China. Systematic & Applied Acarology 6: 35–44.

Websites: https://www.google.co.il/search?q=Neoseiulus+cucumeris+image&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig_sSfourUAhXiQZoKHcSGDnIQsAQIJA&biw=1097&bih=572

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