Are distances between large setal pairs on dorsal shield in Paraphytoseius species (Acari: Phytoseiidae) of any taxonomic value?

Prasad, Vikram; Tixier, Marie-Stéphane

doi:10.22073/pja.v5i2.16634

Are distances between large setal pairs on dorsal shield in Paraphytoseius species (Acari: Phytoseiidae) of any taxonomic value?

Authors

Vikram Prasad ¹

Marie-Stéphane Tixier ²

¹ 7247 Village Square Drive, West Bloomfield, MI 48322, USA;

² Montpellier SupAgro, UMR CBGP, INRA/IRD/CIRAD/ Montpellier SupAgro, Camp-us International deBaillarguet, CS 30016, 34988 Montferrier sur Lez cedex, France;

10.22073/pja.v5i2.16634

Abstract

It was observed that the transverse distances between the landmark setal pairs j1-j1, j3-j3, s4-s4, Z4-Z4, and Z5-Z5 and the vertical distances between the pairs j3-s4, s4-Z4, and z4-Z5 on the dorsal shield were much less in Paraphytoseius cracentis (Corpuz and Rimando, 1966) and much higher in Paraphytoseius orientalis (Narayanan, Kaur and Ghai, 1960). However, the vertical distance between j1-j3, that were located closer to each other than other pairs, were in variation range of each other in these 2 species. Some of these measurements, especially transverse distance between s4-s4 and vertical distance between s4-Z4, may be of additional taxonomic value. Therefore, study of these features in other species of Paraphytoseius and Phytoseiidae is suggested to see if such studies are useful.

Keywords

distance between setal pairs

Paraphytoseius cracentis

Paraphytoseius orientalis