Female dorsal view

Other Names

Phytoseuilus (Phytoseiulus) persimilis Athias-Henriot, 1957
Typhlodromus persimilis (Athias-Henriot)

Synonyms

Phytoseiulus longipes Evans, 1953 [syn. Denmark et al., 1999]
Phytoseiulus tardi (Lombardini, 1959) [syn. Kennett & Caltagirone, 1968]

Distribution

Cosmopolitan - Africa: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa; Middle East: Jordan, Lybia, Israel; Central and South America: Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, Venezuela; North America: California; Europe: Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Turkey; Asia and Indo-Pacific: China, New Caledonia, South Korea, New Zealand; Australia: ACT, NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania (Schicha, 1987; Moraes et al., 2004).

Notes

Schicha (1987) reports P. persimilis from a range of crop plants (strawberry, apple, lucerne, plum, zucchini) and wild vegetation in Australia. Collyer (1964; 1982) does not mention P. persimilis in her publications on New Zealand phytoseiid mites, but the species has been introduced into New Zealand. At present P. persimilis is distributed in New Zealand commercially as a biological control agent for tetranychid mites in greenhouses. I have collected P. persimilis from two glasshouses in Auckland region in 2006 - on one occasion from a commercial rose crop, where P. persimilis was released as a biological control agent, and on another occasion from a commercial cucumber glasshouse where P. persimilis apparently had naturalised from past releases and persisted as a wild population (M. Minor, unpublished data).

References

Collyer, E. (1964) The occurrence of some mites of the Family Phytoseiidae in New Zealand, and descriptions of seven new species. Acarologia 6: 632-646.

Collyer, E. (1982) The Phytoseiidae of New Zealand (Acarina). 1. The genera Typhlodromus and Amblyseius - keys and new species. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 9: 185-206.

Denmark, H.A., Evans, G.A., Aguilar, H., Vargas, C., and Ochoa, R. (1999) Phytoseiidae of Central America (Acari: Mesostigmata). Indira Publishing House, West Bloomfield, Michigan, USA, 125 p.

Kennett, C.E., and Caltagirone, L.E. (1968) Biosystematics of Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Acarina: Phytoseiidae). Acarologia 10(4): 563-577.

Moraes, G.J. de, McMurtry, J.A., Denmark, H.A., and Campos, C.B. (2004) A revised catalog of the mite family Phytoseiidae. Zootaxa 434: 1-494.

Schicha, E. (1987) Phytoseiidae of Australia and Neighboring Areas. Indira Publishing House, Oak Park, Michigan, USA. 187 p.