Phytoseiid mites of Slovenia (Acari: Mesostigmata): new records and first description of the male of Amblyseius microorientalis

Slovenia is a small country of Central Europe. Until recently, only limited surveys had been carried out of the Phytoseiidae fauna. The occurrence of 14 species had been documented in two international papers: 6 belonging to the subfamily Amblyseiinae, 1 to the subfamily Phytoseiinae and 7 to the subfamily Typhlodrominae. Four additional species (3 Amblyseiinae and 1 Phytoseiinae) were recorded and published recently but in a national journal and not mentioned in the world online database of Phytoseiidae. Here, we present results from 2018 and 2019 field surveys and add a total of 22 new records (18 if we consider national published records): 14 Amblyseiinae, 3 Phytoseiinae and 5 Typhlodrominae. The Phytoseiidae fauna of Slovenia contains after our study 36 species: 20 Amblyseiinae, 4 Phytoseiinae and 12 Typhlodrominae. Among the 22 new record species, at least 8 species are well-known biological control agents (BCA). In addition to the intrinsic value of phytoseiid mite biodiversity in temperate environments, demonstration of the natural occurrence of efficient BCAs is of great agricultural, commercial and strategic interests.


Introduction
Phytoseiidae is an important family of predatory mites as several species in this family are important natural enemies controlling phytophagous mite and small insects in natural area, open field and protected crops all around the world (McMurtry and Croft 1997;McMurtry et al. 2013). However despite the huge numbers of faunistic surveys carried out for more than 70 years, the fauna of some countries and particular ecosystems remain little explored (Tixier et al. 2008). Consequently, it is important to make surveys in these poorly investigated areas to get more information on the biodiversity and to find there already known biological control agents (BCA) but also potential new BCA, especially in the context of new international and state regulations limiting import-export on natural enemies (Kreiter et al. 2020a, b). This family is widespread all over the world and consists presently of 2,521 valid species dispatched in three sub-families and 94 genera (Demite et al. 2014(Demite et al. , 2020. Slovenia is a small country of the Eastern Europe (29,273 km²), the 150 th on 194 countries with continental, temperate and Mediterranean areas.
But more than these 14 species can be considered present in Slovenia. Actually, four additional species (three Amblyseiinae and one Phytoseiinae) were recorded and published recently but in a national journal (Bohinc et al. 2018) and not mentioned in the world database of Phytoseiidae (Demite et al. 2020). These four additional species are: Euseius stipulatus (Athias-Henriot), E. gallicus Kreiter and Tixier, Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor), and Phytoseius horridus Ribaga.
We report in this paper, which constitutes the second international contribution to the Slovenian Fauna, results of additional surveys realised in a two years project Proteus (2018 and 2019).

Material and methods
The survey took place in Slovenia in June 2018 and June 2019.
Plant inhabiting mites were collected from cultivated and wild plants in several locations in all parts of the country. Mites were directly collected on leaves with a fine brush or by using the leaf "dipping-shaking-washing-filtering (dswf)" method of Boller (1984) or by beating the plants (mainly shrubs or trees) and collecting the mites in a black plastic rectangular saucer 45 x 30 cm (Ref. STR 45, BHR, 71370 Saint-Germain-du-Plain, France). The method selected was depending on the plant investigated: large leaves of shrubs and trees with the direct collection method or with dswf, very small leaves or spines of shrubs and trees with the dswf or by beating and herbaceous plants with dswf.
Mites collected were transferred with a brush into small plastic vials containing 1.5 ml of 70°ethanol. Mites were then all mounted on slides using Hoyer's medium and all identified using a phase and interferential contrast microscope (DMLB, Leica Microsystèmes SAS, Nanterre, France). Characters of specimens were measured using a graduate eyepiece (Leica, see above).
We have used McMurtry's (1994, 2007) concepts of the taxonomy of the family Phytoseiidae the world catalogue database of Demite et al. (2014Demite et al. ( , 2020 for distribution. For identifications, the specimens were compared to the original description and re-description. In the description and re-description herein proposed, the setal nomenclature system adopted was that of Lindquist & Evans (1965) and Lindquist (1994), as adapted by Rowell et al. (1978) for the dorsum and by Chant & Yoshida-Shaul (1991) for the venter. The idiosomal setal pattern follows Chant & Yoshida-Shaul (1992). The notation for solenostomes and poroids is based on Athias-Henriot (1975). Numbers of teeth on the fixed and movable cheliceral digits do not include the respective apical teeth. Setae not referred to in the Results section should be considered as absent. All measurements are given in micrometers (µm) and presented as the mean in bold followed by the range in parenthesis.
Specimens of each species are deposited in the mite collections of Montpellier SupAgro conserved in UMR CBGP INRA/IRD/CIRAD/SupAgro Université de Montpellier.
Specimens collected in fields in Slovenia within these surveys were all identified. Very few single males or immatures collected alone were not taken into account.
The following abbreviations are used in this paper for institutions: CBGP = Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations; CIRAD = Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement; INRAE = Institut National de la Recherche en Agronomie et Environnement; IRD = Institut de Recherche pour le Développement; MSA = Montpellier SupAgro, France; UMR = Unité Mixte de Recherche. tarsonemid mites [Phytonemus pallidus (Banks)] (Easterbrook et al. 2001), small insects such as thrips (Rodriguez-Reina et al. 1992) and even pollen when prey is unavailable (Rhodes and Liburd 2006). It can migrate from grasses to fruit trees or grapevines and vice versa (Auger et al. 1999). It is a specialist predator of T. urticae on annual plants and woody species, and of P. ulmi and various Tetranychus spp. (and perhaps eriophyid mites) on trees and less frequently on grapevines (Auger et al. 1999). N. californicus is well known as a BCA sold in many countries around the world for the management of spider mites in greenhouses but also in outdoor crops such as fruit crops in Europe.
This species was already recorded and mentioned in a Slovenian papers, like Bohinc and Trdan (2015) and Bohinc et al. (2018) but it is the first mention of that species in an international paper for Slovenia.  Tixier et al. (2008) for specimens of the world, by Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens from Spain and by  for specimens from La Réunion and various regions in the world.
Phytoseiulus persimilis is probably one of the best-known phytoseiid species in the world, because of its use to control T. urticae in greenhouses all over the world. It is a Mediterranean / subtropical predatory mite, a type I species, i.e. a specialist predator of the urticae species group of the genus Tetranychus (McMurtry and Croft 1997;McMurtry et al. 2013). Considerable research has been conducted on this predator-prey interactions (see review by Kostiainen and Hoy 1996), and numerous biological control programs have used P. persimilis against T. urticae on a wide range of ornamental and vegetable crops. P. persimilis was the first greenhouse biological control agents available commercially and it is one of the most successful BCA in the world. It can also be used in temperate climates on open-field crops such as strawberries. Optimum conditions are 20-27°C and relative humidity of 60-90 %. Cooler or warmer temperatures may have a negative effect on reproduction, development and efficiency of this predatory mite (Escudero and Ferragut 2005). This species is present in Slovenia probably because of its commercial introduction and uses in vegetable and ornamental greenhouses, dispersion of some specimens released and establishment in the environment. This is the first report of that species from the Slovenian fauna.  Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens of Spain and by Kreiter et al. (2018 for specimens from Mauritius, La Réunion and various regions in the world.
According to Denmark and Evans (2011), species of Typhlodromips have macrosetae on legs II, III and IV (and also on leg I, see above) and species of Neoseiulus have in general no macrosetae on legs I to III. The specimens here observed have macrosetae on all legs and is thus a Typhlodromips and not a Neoseiulus. According with the same authors, T. driggeri is a senior synonym of Typhlodromips assiniboin (Chant and Hanssel) placed by Chant and McMurtry (2007) in the genus Typhlodromips and not in the genus Neoseiulus (oppositely to the species driggeri placed in Neoseiulus by these two authors). Demite et al. (2020) following Moraes et al. (1986Moraes et al. ( , 2004 placed also this species in the genus Typhlodromips and according with those authors, this species is considered to be a Typhlodromips and not a Neoseiulus. According Chant & McMurtry (2007), this species belongs to the lugubris species group as seta Z1 is absent, and the calyx of the spermatheca is elongate, tubular.
The biology of that species is totally unknown. It was collected in orchard in Northern America and Canada but was never recorded outside of Northern America. This is consequently the first report of that species from Slovenia and the first mention in Europe. Why this species is recorded in Slovenia as it was never recorded in other countries well investigated in Europe remain totally unknown.
Remarks: The measurements of the three adult females collected agree quite well with those provided by Specht (1968) for specimens collected in New Jersey in apple orchards and with Chant and Hansell (1971) for specimens from various places in Eastern Canada (Québec, Manitoba, Ontario), with only some slight variations (Table 1). Amblyseiini Muma, 1961: 68. Subtribe Amblyseiina Muma Amblyseiina Muma, 1961: 69. Table 1 Character measurements of adult females of Typhlodromips driggeri collected in this study with those in previous studies (localities followed by the number of specimens measured between brackets).

Characters
Slovenia (
This species was described by Kolodochka and Bodarenko (1993) with specimens collected in the Black Sea National Biosphere Reserve, Solenoozernyy, Kherson Region, Ukraine, on Taraxacum sp. for the holotype and on Frankenia hirsuta L. and Cirsium sp. for the paratypes.
The biology of that species is totally unknown. This is the first report of that species from Slovenia. Remarks: The measurements of the three adult females ( Table 2) collected agree quite well with those provided by Kolodochka and Bodarenko (1993) for specimens collected on diverse plant species from Ukraine, with only slightly longer setae z4 and S2, and slightly shorter macrosetae of the leg IV in the Slovenian specimens.
Like T. fragilis, this species belongs to the bellottii species group and to the bellottii species subgroup (Chant and McMurtry 2004a).

Remarks:
The description and measurements of the two adult females and the three adult males (Table 3) collected agree well with those provided by Wainstein and Beglyarov (1971) for Russia, by Wu (1987) for China [for T. magnus, junior synonym of T. volgini according to Ryu and Ehara (1991)] and by Ryu and Ehara (1991) for South Korea. T. volgini is similar to T. herbarius Wainstein but with important differences in setae measurements and less teeth in both digits in chelicerae.
This species belongs to the obtusus species group with presence of setae J2 and Z1, seta Table 2 Comparison of character measurements of adult females of Transeius fragilis collected in this study with those in previous studies (localities followed by the number of specimens measured between brackets).

Characters
Slovenia ( 79 (70 -88) -Sources of measurements -Ukraine: Kolodochka & Bodarenko (1993); -: not provided. Table 3 Character measurements of adult females and males of Transeius volgini collected in this study and those in previous studies (localities followed by the number of specimens measured between brackets).
Amblyseius andersoni was already mentioned from the Slovenian fauna (Miklavc 2006;Bohinc and Trdan 2013;Bohinc et al. 2018). Remarks: The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Chant and Yoshida (1990), by Ferragut et al. (2010)  Like the previous species, A. microorientalis belongs to the obtusus species group of the genus Amblyseius but having the calyx of the spermatheca long and saccular, it belongs to the nicola species subgroup.
The biology of that species is totally unknown. This is the first report of that species from Slovenia.  (Table 4) collected agree well with those provided by Wainstein and Beglyarov (1971) and by Denmark and Muma (1989) for specimens from Russia with some slightly longer setae (j1, Z4, Z5, JV5, SgeIV and StiIV ) in the Slovenian specimens. The male of that species is unknown and the description of the single specimen male collected is provided thereunder.

Description of the adult male of Amblyseius microorientalis Wainstein & Beglyarov
Diagnosis -The following combination of characters indicated below in the description of the male of this species is quite similar to the few described males of species of Amblyseius belonging to the obtusus species group and to the nicola species subgroup. Not many characters allow to distinguish it from all males of other species if no females are collected in the same time: the peritreme reaching the level of setae j1, an absence of reticulation of the dorsal shield, some dorsal setae length, especially z2, z4, r3 and S2 approximately of the same length (12 -15) and s4 = Z4 (60), a spermatodactyl with a terminal part elongate with a large open angle with the shaft, additional macrosetae on all other legs than the leg IV, macrosetae of the leg IV subequal, a large sternogenital shield reticulated on margins, only three pairs of preanal setae, one pair of crateriform gv3 in-between and very close to setae JV2. All described males [Amblyseius articus Chant and Hansell, A. indocalami Zhu and Chen, A. longisaccatus Wu and Lin, Amblyseius obtusus (Koch), A. pseudoorientalis Chinniah and Mohanasundaram, A.
tubae Karg, A. valpoensis Gonzalez and Schuster)] have similar ventrianal shield reticulated with 3 pairs of preanal setae but the shaft and toe are quite different. The closest species is A. indocalami but shaft and toe are shorter and the angle between shaft and toe is less open. All other species have shaft and toe with an angle close to 90°.

Characters
Slovenia ( Chelicera -Fixed digit 23 long, with 8-9 teeth and movable digit 23 long with 1-2 teeth. Spermatodactyl elongate, with an elongate shaft (Fig. 1c) 25 long, and an elongate toe 13 with a large open angle between them, which makes the toe almost in alignment with the shaft.
Type material -One male on one slide deposited in Montpellier SupAgro-INRA Acarology collection.
Remarks -Characters of males are very similar to that of females except of course length of setae and other characters. Ventrianal shield of the male is strongly reticulated and the ventrianal shield of the female not or very slightly, the sternogenital shield is larger in the male at the level of the seta st2, of normal size and not larger in the female. The male has also less teeth in FD and MD than female has. This species belongs to the same species group and the same species subgroup as A. andersoni.

Amblyseius rademacheri Dosse
Amblyseius rademacheri was found together with T. urticae on S. melongena in Turkey (Soysal and Akyazi 2018). In previous studies, it was found on various fruits, weeds, forest trees in association with tetranychid and eriophyid mites (Hajizadeh 2007). Tixier et al. (2013) also reported A. rademacheri on Vitis vinifera. Komi et al. (2008) found this species on pepper and eggplant in Japan. However, despite these records on cultivated plants, the biology of that species is unknown.
The predatory mite A. swirskii is one of the most efficient Phytoseidae; it is currently released in more than 50 countries of the world. It originates from the East Mediterranean coast and has been described in 1962 from almond [Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A.Webb.] in Bet Dagan, Israel by Athias-Henriot (1962). This species was then reported along the coast of Israel, Middle Eastern countries, Southern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and the America (Demite et al. 2020).
This species is able to develop not only in the Mediterranean basin but also in subtropical and tropical areas (Zannou and Hanna 2011). Since this species is not entering diapause, it can be used throughout much of the season where daytime temperatures regularly exceed 22°C (Calvo et al. 2015). A. swirskii is commonly used to control whiteflies and thrips in greenhouse vegetables (especially cucumber, pepper and eggplant) and some ornamental crops, in Europe and North America (Calvo et al. 2015). The biology of this species and its importance for biocontrol were recently reviewed by Calvo et al. (2015) and Buitenhuis et al. (2015). This is the first record of that species in Slovenia, probably originating from dispersion in the environment after greenhouse releases.

Remarks:
The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens from Spain and by Kreiter et al. (2016a, b) for specimens from La Réunion and from various countries in the world.

Proprioseiopsis bordjelaini Athias-Henriot
Amblyseius bordjelaini Athias-Henriot 1966: 193. Amblyseius (Amblyseius) bordjelaini, Ueckermann & Loots 1988: 67. Proprioseiopsis bordjelaini, Chant & McMurtry 2005a: 11;2007: 89. This species is mentioned as an uncertain species by Chant and McMurtry (2005a) having an uncertain identity because of incomplete description. This species is quite rare and has been only reported from the Mediterranean basin and Canary Islands. The biology of that species is totally unknown. This is the first report of that species from Slovenia.  Karg 1971b).
Oppositely to the case of the previous species, P. okanagensis belongs to the belizensis species group of the genus Proprioseiopsis having macrosetae on genu I and to the belizensis Table 5 Comparison of character measurements of adult females of Proprioseiopsis bordjelaini collected in this study with those in previous studies (localities followed by the number of specimens measured between brackets).
Amblydromalus limonicus was described in 1956 from citrus in California. Its distribution range covers North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. It was detected for the first time in 2011 on tomatoes in several locations of the northeastern Spain and has extended its area of distribution since this date (Chorazy et al. 2016). It first caught the attention as natural enemy of the spider mites Oligonychus punicae (Hirst) and T. urticae in avocados and other fruit trees (Knapp et al. 2013). In laboratory studies, A. limonicus developed into adults and laid eggs on several species of mites, thrips, whiteflies and scale insects, as well as on pollen (Knapp et al. 2013). Interest into A. limonicus re-emerged in the early 1990s after F. occidentalis had spread nearly all over the world. It was collected during surveys for F. occidentalis biocontrol agents in New Zealand and Australia. Laboratory and semi-field experiments in the Netherlands and Australia showed that A. limonicus was a very promising candidate for biological control of F. occidentalis in several greenhouse crops (Knapp et al. 2013). However, it was not possible to establish a commercially viable mass rearing system at this time. At around the same time A. limonicus was also identified in surveys in South America for classical biocontrol agents for the cassava green mite, Mononychellus tanajoa (Bondar). Recently, a mass production system for A. limonicus was developed and this species became commercially available in January 2012. With the material from this mass production system, more semi-field and field trials could be conducted. Results showed that A. limonicus is also an excellent biocontrol agent for greenhouse whiteflies Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) in various ornamental and vegetable greenhouse crops. As this predatory mite originates from temperate areas, it is a good complement to A. swirskii and Transeius montdorensis (Schicha). Both species originate from sub-tropical regions and have a higher optimum temperature than A. limonicus. This is the first record of that species in Slovenia, probably originating from dispersion in the environment after greenhouse releases.

Remarks:
The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Moraes and McMurtry (1983) and by Moraes et al. (1994).
This species was already known from Slovenia (Miklavc 2006;Bohinc and Trdan 2013;Bohinc et al. 2018). With 375 specimens in total in 21 locations, it is one of the more common and widespread in that survey.
World distribution: Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Caucasus Region, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Unlike the phytoseiid species mentioned above, which are classified as generalist predators of small insects and mites (type III), Euseius species are pollen-feeding generalist predators (type IV) (McMurtry and Croft 1997;McMurtry et al. 2013). Type III phytoseiids also feed on pollen but prefer or show better performance on insect or mite prey. Type IV predatory mites have their highest reproductive capacity when feeding on pollen, and populations in the field often increase significantly when the crop or the surrounding vegetation is flowering (McMurtry et al. 2013).
Recently, E. gallicus has shown potential as a biocontrol agent for thrips and whiteflies in roses when Typha sp. (cattail) pollen is supplied as an additional food source (Biobest 2013;Wackers 2013). Provision of pollen as a supplementary food source can improve biological control of whiteflies and thrips by type III phytoseiids (van Rijn and Sabelis 1993;Nomikou et al. 2010), and control works excellently in crops where pollen is naturally available (Calvo et al. 2012). The population of Euseius species can grow faster than the population of type III phytoseiids when pollen is provided as a food source.
This species was already recorded and mentioned in a Slovenian paper (Bohinc et al. 2018) but it is the first mention of that species in an international paper for Slovenia.

Sub-family Phytoseiinae Berlese
Having seta R1 and J2 present, this species belongs to the plumifer species group of the genus Phytoseius (Chant and McMurtry 2007).
This species is mainly reported in Mediterranean countries, and is especially frequent in Israel and Greece. It has been observed mainly on shrubs. A big confusion between P. finitimus and Phytoseius plumifer (Canestrini and Fanzago) has existed for a long time and a tentative solution has been proposed by Duso and Fontana (2002). We herein follow these authors and do not considered valid the synonymy between these species indicated in Moraes et al. (2004).
Phytoseius finitimus has been reported on grapevines and fig tree orchards in several countries in Europe. It seems to feed on P ulmi (Duso and Moretto 1994) and various eriophyid mites (Rasmy and El-Banhawy 1974b), and it consumes pollen (Zaher et al., 1969;Rasmy and El-Banhawy 1975). High relative humidities and very hairy-leaved plants or varieties seem to be very suitable for P. finitimus (Rasmy and El-Banhawy 1974a;Duso and Moretto 1994). This is the first report of that species from Slovenia. World distribution: Algeria, Azores, Egypt, France, Greece, Iran, Israel, Italy, Montenegro, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, USA.
Remarks: The measurements of the two adult males collected agree with those provided by Duso and Fontana (2002) and by Tixier et al. (2017).  Moraes et al. 1986: 222. Having seta R1 and J2 absent, this species belongs to the horridus species group of the genus Phytoseius (Chant and McMurtry 2007).

Phytoseius horridus Ribaga
The biology of this species seems totally unknown. This species was already recorded and mentioned in a Slovenian paper (Bohinc et al. 2018), and in international conference paper (Trdan and Bohinc, 2016). Remarks: The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Denmark (1966) and by Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens from Spain.
Like the previous species and for the same reasons, P. juvenis species belongs to the horridus species group of the genus Phytoseius (Chant and McMurtry 2007).

Genus Neoseiulella Muma
This species belongs to the tiliarum species group as JV3 is present, dorsal setae are medium and relatively uniform in length and chelicerae with few teeths.
Neoseiulella aceri was the second most common species on walnut in Czech Republic and the co-occurrence this species and E. finlandicus was often observed (Kabicek 2010).
Despite these observations, the biology of this type III species (McMurtry et al. 2013) is almost totally unknown. This species is mostly reported on Acer species (Kanouth et al. 2012) This is the first mention of that species for the Slovenian fauna. World distribution: Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, USA.
Remarks: The measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Kanouh et al. (2012) for the holotype.
Neoseiulella tiliarum (Oudemans) Typhlodromus tiliarum Oudemans 1930a: 51-52. Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) tiliarum, Chant 1959: 65. Typhloctonus tiliarum,Muma 1961: 299. Typhlodromus (Nesbitteius) tiliarum, Wainstein 1962: 22-23. Seiulus tiliarum, Abbasova 1972Karg 1982: 205;Karg & Edland 1987: 387. Seiulus (Typhloctonus) tiliarum, Beglyarov 1981. Neoseiulella (Typhloctona) tiliarum, Denmark & Rather 1996: 58-59. Neoseiulella tiliarum, Chant & McMurtry 1994Moraes et al. 2004: 296;Chant & McMurtry 2007: 147. Typhlodromus formosus Wainstein 1958: 206-207 (synonymy according to Chant 1959. Like the previous species, N. tiliarum belongs to the tiliarum species group. Neoseiulla tiliarum is more common in this study than the previous Neoseiulella species (see above). It was the most common phytoseiid species on the surveyed urban linden trees in Czech Republic in a recent study (Kabicek 2019). Significantly more specimens of N. tiliarum were captured in this Czech study within the well-developed domatia created by overlapping trichomes in the vein axils and near the raised hairy veins on the underside of leaves of Tilia platyphyllos, and all specimens of N. tiliarum were detected within the similar sheltered leaf tuft domatia microhabitat on the abaxial leaf area of Tilia cordata (Barret 1994; Kabicek 2019). The vast majority of specimens of N. tiliarum sheltered more deeply within the domatia and persisted within the protected leaf domatia and vein microhabitats when they were repeatedly disturbed. The obvious preference for the sheltered leaf microhabitats among N. tiliarum detected on both surveyed Tilia spp. is consistent with the results obtained from grapevines (Kreiter et al. , 2002 and Tilia spp. (Barret 1994). The frequent occurrence and persistence of slowly moving specimens of N. tiliarum on the unprotected leaf surface could be hazardous to them, so they prefer the sheltered leaf microhabitats and use the same shelter-based method of defensive strategy to avoid possible macro-predators, similarly to N. aceri and K. aberrans (Kabicek 2005(Kabicek , 2008. Neoseiulella tiliarum has been observed on diverse deciduous trees (Chant and Yoshida-Shaul 1989), plant supports observed below can provide appropriate habitat niches for the survival and persistence of this generalist predator type III (McMurtry et al. 2013) in urban and non-urban areas. Despite this information, the biology of that species remains totally unknown.
This species was already recorded from Slovenia (Miklavc 2006;Bohinc and Trdan 2013 Remarks: The measurements of the adult females collected agree well with those provided by Kanouh et al. (2012) for the holotype and with Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens from Spain.
Almost nothing is known about the biology of that species. The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Faraji et al. (2007) and by Ferragut et al. (2010)  This species is commonly found in uncultivated areas and sometimes in crops in Europe, mainly on plants of the family Lamiaceae. However, no data on its biology were available until recently. Five populations of this species collected in South of France have been studied. Their abilities to eat Tetranychus urticae as well as their fecundity were assessed in lab experiments. Differences between the five populations have been observed. The fecundity rates (number of eggs/ female/ day) ranges between 0.5 and 1.4. The number of eggs of T. urticae consumed per female and per day ranges between 8 and 18. When the amount of prey is important in first days of the experiment, predation rates higher than 40 eggs consumed per female per day have been observed (Tixier et al. 2016). The number of prey consumed for some of the populations herein tested is quite similar to those reported for some predatory mite species used in biological control, such as Neoseiulus californicus, for example. Such results emphasize the potential capacity of that species to regulate T. urticae. Furthermore, as this species is endemic of Europe, such results open new insights for using endemic biodiversity to limit side effects of biological control within international exchange rules. However, additional studies are clearly needed to determine optimal rearing conditions, prey ranges and predation behaviour in field conditions (Tixier et al. 2016). This is the first mention of that species for the Slovenian fauna. Remarks: The description and measurements of the adult females collected agree with those provided by Ferragut et al. (2010) for specimens from Spain and by Ferragut (2018) Moraes et al. 1986: 172. Typhlodromella rhenana, Evans andMomen 1988: 209-216. Amblydromella (Aphanoseia) rhenana, Denmark and Welbourn 2002: 308. Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) rhenanus, Moraes et al. 2004: 345;Chant and McMurtry 2007: 155. Anthoseius tortor Beglyarov and Malov, 1978: 7 (synonymy according to Evans and Edland 1998).
For same reasons than the previous species, this species belongs to the rhenanus species group.
Almost nothing is known about the biology of that species. This species was already recorded from Slovenia (Miklavc 2006;Bohinc and Trdan 2013
The biology of this type III species (McMurtry et al. 2013) is almost totally unknown. This is the first mention of that species for the Slovenian fauna. World distribution: Austria, France, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine.

Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) pyri Scheuten
Typhlodromus pyri Scheuten 1857: 104; Moraes et al. 1986: 246. Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) pyri, Chant 1959. Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) pyri, Moraes et al. 2004: 367;Chant & McMurtry 2007: 157. This species is cosmopolitan but is the dominant species in vineyards and orchards in the western part of Europe. It has been introduced in various countries such as Australia and New Zealand for biological control purposes. It has been reported on a wide range of plants, essentially on cultivated and uncultivated shrubs and trees This species is an active predator of red and yellow spider mites and eriophyid mites mainly in orchards and vineyards and of the grape thrips Drepanothrips reuteri (Uzel) in France (Serrano et al. 2004).
This species was one of the more abundant collected species within this survey. This species was already recorded from Slovenia (Miklavc 2006;Bohinc and Trdan 2013).

Conclusion
Fourteen species were previously reported from Slovenia with four additional species published in a national journal (Bohinc et al. 2018) and not mentioned in the world database of Phytoseiidae (Demite et al. 2020).
In this study carried out in 2018 and 2019 within an international project Proteus France-Slovenia, we add 18 new recorded species for the country and four additional species published in a national journal but nor referenced at international level (Demite et al. 2020). This is surprising that 6 Phytoseiidae species already mentioned were not here recovered: Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans), N. reductus (Wainstein), Phytoseius macropilis (Banks), Paraseilus soleiger (Ribaga), P. talbii (Athias-Henriot) and P. triporus (Chant and Yoshida-Shaul).
We add also 9 BCA for the country, potentially usable in biological control in Slovenia without introduction permits as they are recorded in the country.