Evidence for Reconsidering the Taxonomic Status of Closely Related Oligonychus Species in punicae Complex (Acari: Prostigmata: Tetranychidae)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The present study comprehensively addressed a taxonomic problem in the Oligonychus punicae species complex. Based on the morphological and molecular data, two spider mite species, namely Oligonychus mangiferus (Rahman and Sapra) and O. vitis (Zaher and Shehata) are synonymized with O. punicae (Hirst). Moreover, DNA-based analysis showed that there are GenBank COI and ITS2 sequences of Oligonychus that need to be revisited to confirm the identity of their voucher specimens. The importance of an integrative taxonomic approach is discussed for the accurate identification of closely related Oligonychus species. ABSTRACT: To elucidate the taxonomic problems in species delineation within the Oligonychus punicae complex (O. punicae, O. mangiferus, and O. vitis) (Acari: Prostigmata: Tetranychidae), we performed morphological and molecular investigations on mite samples, collected from different hosts/countries. Thirty-nine samples of punicae complex, collected from Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia (SA), did not show any considerable morphological differences in females and males. All 39 samples of the punicae complex resembled the original description of O. punicae, while the claimed Mexican O. punicae was distinctively different based on male aedeagus. Molecularly, the low nucleotide diversity ranged from 0% to 2.1% (ITS2-rDNA) and 0% to 1% (COI-mtDNA), and was observed among various DNA sequences of the punicae complex from Egypt, India, Israel, Pakistan, and SA, confirming their identity as one species. The high genetic divergence ranged from 17.2% to 18.8% (ITS2) and 9.2% to 10.2% (COI), observed between the claimed Mexican O. punicae and all other sequences of the punicae complex, indicating that the Mexican sample do not belong to O. punicae. Basing our findings on both morphological and molecular data, we can conclude that O. mangiferus and O. vitis are synonymized with O. punicae. Additionally, this study reveals that the claimed Mexican O. punicae needs to be re-identified.