Ontogenetic changes in the morphology of Phytoseius leaki Schicha, 1977 (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we studied the morphological ontogeny of Phytoseius leaki, which were collected from leaves of Whau (Entelea arborescens, Malvaceae) in Auckland. We found two types of P. leaki adult females, some with solenostomes gd5 beneath z5, others without. Study of the ontogeny revealed that this gland started to appear in the deutonymphs of some females. It was never present in adult males. We also conducted molecular testing on the fragments 18s and 28s rDNA for two types of P. leaki with or without solenostomes gd5 and confirmed that they were conspecific.