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Morphological and molecular diagnostics of Phytoseiulus persimilis and Phytoseiulus macropilis (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

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Abstract

This study focuses on the diagnostics of two natural enemy species, belonging to the genus Phytoseiulus in the family Phytoseiidae (sub-family Amblyseiinae): P. macropilis and P. persimilis. These two species are of primary importance in biological control all over the world. However, they are morphologically very similar and specific diagnostics is difficult. This study utilizes mitochondrial molecular markers (12S rRNA and Cytb mtDNA) to differentiate these two species. Morphological analyses showed significant differences between P. persimilis and P. macropilis for 17 morphological characters of the 32 considered. However, despite these significant differences, the ranges of all characters overlap. Only the serration of the macroseta on the basitarsus (StIV) allows the differentiation between P. persimilis and P. macropilis. Despite these small morphological differences, molecular results, for both mitochondrial DNA fragments considered (rRNA and Cytb mtDNA), showed a clear delineation between the specimens of P. macropilis and P. persimilis. This study emphasizes (i) that only one morphological character (serration of the seta StIV) clearly separates these two species, and (ii) the usefulness of an automatical molecular and simple diagnostic tool for accurate differentiation of the two species and ensure the morphological diagnostics. Further studies are proposed, including more DNA sequences especially for P. macropilis.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Francisco Ferragut (University of Valencia, Spain), Mrs Blum, (Bioline Syngenta England) and Maxime Ferrero for their help in getting the specimens of Phytoseiulus, and to Wannes Dermauw (University of Ghent, Belgium) for Cytb mtDNA primers design.

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  1. Unité Mixte de Recherche n°1062 Centre de Biologie et de Gestion des Populations, Montpellier SupAgro, Campus International de Baillarguet, CS 30016, 34988, Montferrier-sur-Lez Cedex, France

    Mireille Okassa, Marie-Stéphane Tixier & Serge Kreiter

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  1. Mireille Okassa
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  2. Marie-Stéphane Tixier
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  3. Serge Kreiter
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Correspondence to Marie-Stéphane Tixier.

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Okassa, M., Tixier, MS. & Kreiter, S. Morphological and molecular diagnostics of Phytoseiulus persimilis and Phytoseiulus macropilis (Acari: Phytoseiidae). Exp Appl Acarol 52, 291–303 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-010-9364-x

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