Redescriptions of the Species of Amblyseiella and Chelaseius, with Resurrection of the Genus Status for Amblyseiulus

Abstract

The article continues the studies of the fauna of phytoseiid mites in Ukraine, the results of which have been partly published by the author recently and contains a review of the genera Amblyseiulus, Amblyseiella, and Chelaseius. A detailed morpho-functional rationale for the resurrection of the genus Amblyseiulus Muma, 1961 as a part of the subtribe Proprioseiopsina Chant & McMurtry is provided. In this study, seven species of this genus were identified, one of which, Amblyseiulus jugortus (Athias-Henriot, 1966), is recorded for the first time in the fauna of Ukraine. The genus Amblyseiella Muma, 1955 is represented in Ukraine by the species A. antonii Kolodochka & Omeri, 2010, the second of two species of this genus known in the world. The species Chelaseius (Pontoseius) valliculosus Kolodochka, 1987 is also the only representative of this genus and subgenus in Ukraine. Based on the results of the study, comprehensive illustrated redescriptions of each of the taxa are given, morphological and morphometric data, information on the distribution of genera and species in the world and Ukraine, mite habitats, depositories of type specimens, occurrence, abundance and keys for identification of genera and species.

Keywords

• phytoseiid mites
• taxonomy
• diagnoses
• new record
• resurrection of generic status