Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) of Syria: new records and first description of the male of Eharius stathakisi Döker

Surveys of Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) were conducted at three locations in Latakia governorate, Syria, in 2020 and 2021. Among the nine species collected, two [Eharius chergui (Athias-Henriot) and Typhloseiulus simplex (Chant)] are new records for Syrian Phytoseiidae fauna, and three species (Eharius stathakisi Döker, Graminaseius recebi Döker, Kazak & Karut and Neoseiulus sekeroglui Döker & Stathakis) are measured and are discovered for the first time after their original descriptions. The male of E. stathakisi was discovered, described and illustrated for the first time. All phytoseiid taxa reported from Syria to the present are tabulated.


Introduction
With more than 2500 valid species, the family Phytoseiidae (Acari: Mesostigmata) is the most common and the widespread predatory mite family inhabiting plants, all over the world (Demite et al. 2021). They are widely studied due to their important role as biocontrol agents of phytophagous mites and other small arthropods such as thrips and whiteflies Croft 1997; McMurtry et al. 2013). Phytoseiid mite fauna has been poorly investigated in Syria. As of 2011, only six species were known that follows Euseius scutalis (Athias-Henriot), Neoseiulus fallacis (Garman), Typhlodromus (Typhlodromus) pyri Scheuten and T. (T.) cotoneastri Wainstein were recorded in previous studies (Al-Abdulla 2001; Kerheili 2009, and Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) porathi Swirski & Amitai and Eharius hermonensis Amitai & Swirski listed in the world catalog of this family (Moraes et al. 2004). The number of recorded phytoseiid species has progressively increased since 2011 and reached 27 especially from citrus orchards as well as natural vegetation (Barbar 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018; Ebraheem et al. 2022.
The goal herein was to identify Phytoseiidae species occurring on some natural vegetation in Latakia governorate in 2020 and 2021 and to tabulate all phytoseiid taxa reported from Syria.

Material and methods
Surveys were conducted on 16 March, 14 and 23 April 2020, and on 20 April 2021. Phytoseiid mites were collected from soil litter and from leaves of wild vegetation at three different sites in Latakia governorate, Syria: Attabiyyat (35°30′24″ N, 35°46′49″ E); Alhafah (35°60′21″ N, 36°11′50″ E); Slanfeh (35°60′70″ N, 36°22′17″ E). Mites were removed from leaves using the "dipping-checking-washing-filtering" method (Boller 1984). For collecting mites from litter, materials were placed on a sieve (with 5 mesh/cm) and shaken over a black plastic sheet (1.5 m 2 ). Fallen mites were hand picked off sheet into a vial with 70% alcohol. Mites were then mounted on slides in Hoyer's medium, and then dried in an oven at 40°C for three days. The specimens were examined using an Olympus® CH20 microscope at 400 and 1000 X magnification. Measurements were made using the scale of a reticule installed on the eyepiece lens, provided in micrometres (μm) and presented with the mean followed by the range in parenthesis. Mite body parts were documented, when necessary, using a mobile phone camera (13 megapixels) fixed on the eyepiece lens and images were transferred to the professional quality vector graphics software (Inkscape ® 0.92) which was installed on a computer for actual drawing.
The generic and subgeneric concepts used in this paper follow those of Chant and Mc-Murtry (2007). Morphological characteristics were compared with original descriptions or re-descriptions. The setal nomenclature system adopted was that of Lindquist and Evans (1965) and Lindquist (1994) as adapted by Rowell et al. (1978) and Chant and Yoshida-Shaul (1992) for the dorsum, and by Chant and Yoshida-Shaul (1991) for the venter. 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 hook (Kreiter et al. 2021). The specimens were deposited in the Arthropod Collection of the Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Baath University, Homs, Syria.

Results and Discussion
A total of nine phytoseiid mite species had been found during the present study, all presented thereafter. This result increases the number of known Syrian phytoseiid to 32 species (Table  1), of which five species are recorded for the first time from Syria and three of them were measured as they constitute the second international record.
Remarks -This is the first record of this species from Syria. It has been observed in some Mediterranean countries, Iran, and USA (Demite et al. 2021). Chelicera -Fixed digit 23 (22-25) long with two teeth and pilus dentilis; movable digit 19 (18-20) long without teeth.
Remarks -This is the second international record of this species. Morphological characteristics of the Syrian specimens fit well with those in the original description (Döker et al. 2014).
Remarks -This is the first record of this species from Syria. It was recorded in several European countries and found also in Iran (Demite et al. 2021 Remarks -This species has already been observed on apple in the south of Syria (Al-Abdulla et al., 2020) and also on Castanea sp., P. halepensis in Hama governorate (Ebraheem et al., 2022).
Remarks -This species has already been observed on several host plants in Latakia governorate (Barbar 2013). Ventrianal shield of one collected female is abnormal by having only three pairs of ventrianal setae JV1, JV2 and JV3, and seta ZV3 is absent in the left side, (Figure 4).