Redescriptions of two little known species of Neoseiulus Hughes (Acari: Phytoseiidae) with description of a new species from Russia

The genus Neoseiulus Hughes (Acari: Phytoseiidae) is one of the largest in the subfamily Amblyseiinae, with about 350 valid species (Beard 2001; Chant & McMurtry 2003; Zannou et al. 2006; Papadoulis et al. 2009; Demite et al. 2020). Until now, 25 species of Neoseiulus were reported in Russia (Livshitz & Kuznetsov 1972; Wainstein 1975; Meshkov 1994; Kolodochka 2006; Demite et al. 2020). However, many morphological characters including the dorsal setae lengths are usually used to discriminate the phytoseiid species were not included in the descriptions of some Neoseiulus species from Russia. This situation may cause some ambiguity in the identification of Russian species of Neoseiulus. Fo r example, Chant & McMurtry (2003) implied that N. plantagenis (Kolodochka, 1981) cannot be placed in any of the species groups because of inadequate descriptions and illustrations. In addition , N. tervus Meshkov 1994, was treated as uncertain species in the barkeri species group and th e Two little known species of the genus Neoseiulus Hughes, N. plantagenis (Kolodochka) and N. tervus Meshko v are redescribed based on the specimens collected from grass-soil in North Caucasus, and Tyumen province, Russia, respectively. In addition, Neoseiulus caucasicus Doker & Khaustov sp. nov. is described based on the adult females which were also collected from grass-soil in North Caucasus, Russia.