ELECTRONIC POLYTOMOUS KEY TO SPECIES OF THE GENUS NEOSEIULELLA MUMA (ACARI: PHYTOSEIIDAE) OF THE WORLD
The species considered in the key
We considered only the valid species according the revision carried out in Kanouh et al. 2012 (in press). 37 species were considered. The synonymies accepted are as follows Neoseiulella aceri = Neoseiulella squamiger = Neoseiulella aceris; Neoseiulella tiliarum = Neoseiulella formosa; Neoseiulella manukae = Neoseiulella glenfieldensis; Neoseiulella nesbitti = Neoseiulella armidalensis; Neoseiulella vollsela = Neoseiulella transitans = Neoseiulella prunus.
Illustrations of the female of each species are provided in the key, according to the re-descriptions carried out in Kanouh et al. ( in press). A dichotomous key of the species herein considered is also avalaible in Kanouh et al. (2012).
The characters considered in the key
Forty one characters were used to characterize each of the 37 species. Among these characters, 20 are discrete and 21 are continuous. The discrete characters correspond to presence / absence of some setae and solenostomes (glandular pores) on the sternal, ventrianal and dorsal shields. The continuous characters correspond to the measurements of setae on the dorsal shield. The discrete characters had usually two states (absence and presence). For the continuous characters, each species has been characterized by a range of variation (min-max) using the work of Tixier (2012). Illustrations of nearly all the characters are given in the key to help the user.
How to use the key
The polytomous key was constructed using the software DELTA 1.04 (DEscription Language for Taxonomy) (Dallwitz 2009, Coleman et al. 2010) in MS-Windows. DELTA is a modern software package that manages taxonomic research (Dallwitz 2009). To use DELTA,
It can be downloaded for free from the website http://delta-intkey.com (search under: Programs and documentation, Programs, All programs (including Intkey). A complete description of the software is given in Coleman et al. (2010).
When clicking on the following link, the user will download the repertory included the key. Once the repertory unzipped, the user will access to the key opening the file intkey.ink
Special aknowledgements
Special aknowledgements to the journal Acarologia for the permission to use the drawings published in the review of Kanouh et al. 2012 in press.
References
Coleman C.O., Lowry J.K., Macfarlane T. (2010) DELTA for Beginners: An introduction into the taxonomy software package DELTA. ZooKeys 45: 1--75.
Dallwitz MJ (2009) Overview of the DELTA System. http://delta-intkey.com/www/overview.htm.
Kanouh M., Kreiter S., Tixier M.-S. (2012) Revision of the genus Neoseiulella Muma (Acari: Phytoseiidae). Re-description of species, synonymies assessment, biogeography, plant supports and key to adult females. Acarologia in press.
Tixier M.-S. 2012. Approaches to assess intraspecific variations of morphological continuous characters: the case study of the family Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata). Cladistics, 1-14 online first DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2012.00394.x.