Five new species and re-description of eight species belonging to the family Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) from West Bengal, India

This paper reports on 13 species of Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) from West Bengal, India. Eight species, namely Euseius alstoniae (Gupta, 1975), Paraphytoseius orientalis (Narayanan, Kaur & Ghai, 1960), Amblyseiulella heveae (Oudemans, 1930), Gynaeseius ricini (Ghai & Menon, 1969), Neoseiulus longispinosus (Evans, 1952), Neoseiulus imbricatus (Corpuz & Rimando, 1966), Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes, 1948 and Phytoseius kapuri Gupta, 1969 are re-described, and five species, Typhlodromips jhilimiliensis sp. nov, Typhlodromips neosyzygii sp. nov, Proprioseiopsis amari sp. nov, Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) bolpurensis sp. nov, and Phytoseius mauritiana sp. nov. are described as new. Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes, 1948 is reported from India for the first time.

Functional and numerical responses of Neoseiulus barkeri (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on two-spotted spider mite: the effect of patch condition and additional food source

Parameters that describe foraging behavior play a key role in selection of natural enemies used in biological control programs. These parameters are greatly affected by patch condition and food source type. This study was carried out to evaluate foraging behavior in Neoseiulus barkeri (Hughes) (Acari: Phytoseiidae), a predatory mite of Tetranychus urticae Koch under different patch and diet conditions. The predation rate of N. barkeri at different egg and nymph densities of T. urticae (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128) was investigated in both limited and unlimited patches either in the presence or absence of pollen as an additional food source under laboratory conditions. A Type II functional response was determined for N. barkeri on eggs or nymphs of T. urticae in both unlimited and limited patches. The type of functional response was not affected by presence or absence of pollen. The numerical response, in terms of eggs laid, increased curvilinear with increasing prey density. The numerical response was similar in shape to a Type II functional response. The efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI) of female N. barkeri decreased in all treatments when prey density increased. The type of patch (limited or unlimited) and prey stage (egg or nymph in the presence or absence of pollen) can affect searching efficiency (a) and handling time (Th) (functional response) as well as daily fecundity and ECI (numerical response) of the phytoseiid predator mite, N. barkeri with implications for its use in biological control.

Ontogenetic changes in the morphology of Neoseiulus barkeri (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

In this paper, we studied the morphological ontogeny of Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes (Acari: Phytoseiidae) based on specimens collected from Southwest University (Chongqing, China) and reared in laboratory of Shanxi Agriculture University.

Can the prey species Raoiella indica Hirst (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) support the development and reproduction of Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes (Acari: Phytoseiidae)?

The potential of Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as a biological control agent has been widely studied and demonstrated against several pest species, mainly against pest mites. However, its potential has not been assessed with tenuipalpid mites, which emerged as a threat to agriculture, especially in coconut and banana crops. The potential of natural enemies can be predicted through life history tests; thus, we conducted experiments to determine the life history parameters of N. barkeri that fed on tenuipalpid mite Raoiella indica Hirst (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) individuals of different developmental stages. Neoseiulus barkeri successfully completed its development by feeding on R. indica of all developmental stages; there were no differences in survivorship during the entire immature period (always above 95%) irrespective of the developmental stages of the R. indica used. The average oviposition period was 27 days with an average fecundity of 56.2 eggs/female. Positive ri values obtained for all prey developmental stages indicated that R. indica of all developmental stages is suitable to support the population growth of N. barkeri. Additionally, the life table parameters of N. barkeri recorded in this study [net reproductive rate (R0= 37.9 female/female), intrinsic rate of increase (rm = 0.22 female/female/day), finite rate of increase (λ = 1.24 female/female/day), mean generation time (T = 16.67 days), and population doubling time (DT = 3.18 days)] show that N. barkeri performed excellently when feeding on R. indica eggs. Our results show that the prey species R. indica is a suitable food source for the predatory species N. barkeri.