Mating Behavior in Four Strains of Metaseiulus occidentalis (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

Mating behavior of the predatory mite Kampimodromus aberrans (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

“…In our experimental units K. aberrans males approached females either from the front, from behind or from aside ( Figure 1). Similar variability in initial approach of males to females has been reported in other phytoseiid species such as P. persimilis (Amano and Chant 1978a), T. pyri and A. andersoni (Overmeer et al 1982), G. occidentalis (Hoy and Cave 1985) and A. womersleyi (Tsunoda 1994).…”

“…following phase 3-lb) were similar to the 'Amblyseius-Typhlodromus' type described by Amano and Chant (1978a), and also reported in the phytoseiid species Euseius scutalis (Athias-Henriot) (ElBadry and Elbenhawy 1968), G. occidentalis (Lee and Davis 1968), Neoseiulus fallacis (Garman) (Rock et al 1976), A. andersoni (Overmeer et al 1982) and T. pyri (Zaher and Shehata 1971). In 10 pairs the 'sideways' variation in the 'Amblyseius-Typhlodromus' type was observed, in which the male climbed on the female's dorsum and then crawled over her side to the ventral position, as described by Hoy and Cave (1985). In A. womersleyi most pairs followed the main 'Amblyseius-Typhlodromus' type of mating whereas a few pairs followed the 'Phytoseiulus' type in which the male moved directly under the female without climbing on her dorsum (Tsunoda 1994).…”

“…Thus, in K. aberrans as in other phytoseiid species considerable variation in mating behavior was observed. Intraspecific or even inter-population variation in mating behavior seems to be common in the Phytoseiidae (Hoy and Cave 1985).…”

“…The mating behavior has been studied in a few phytoseiid species e.g. Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Amano and Chant 1978a), Amblyseius andersoni (Chant) (Amano and Chant 1978a;Overmeer et al 1982), Typhlodromus pyri (Scheuten) (Overmeer et al 1982), Galendromus occidentalis (Nesbitt) (Hoy and Cave 1985), Euseius alstoniae (Gupta) (Kumari and Sadana 1992), Amblyseius colimensis Aponte and McMurtry (Orlando and McMurty 1992) and Neoseiulus womersleyi (Schicha) (Tsunoda 1994). Among these species considerable variation has been recorded in the sequence of behaviors from the first contact of male and female until the completion of mating, although eventually the male crawls under the female and remains in the venter-to-venter position during copulation.…”

Pest control by mites (Acari): present and future

“…(2001) Euseius scutalis Longevity, fecundity Meyerdirk & Coudriet (1986) Galendromus occidentalis Mating behavior Hoy & Cave (1985) Neoseiulus californicus Response to humidity Walzer et al . (2007) Neoseiulus californicus Reproduction Toyoshima & Hinomoto (2004) Phytoseiulus persimilis Longevity, fecundity Galazzi & Nicoli (1996) Phytoseiulus persimilis Tolerance to aridity Perring & Lackey (1989) Phytoseiulus longipes Feeding preferences Tixier et al (2010) Typhlodromus pyri Temperature responses Hardman & Rogers (1991) The systematics of other major ABA families is also being studied.…”