Functional response of the mirid predators Dicyphus bolivari and Dicyphus errans and their efficacy as biological control agents of Tuta absoluta on tomato
Dicyphus bolivari Lindberg and Dicyphus errans (Wolff) (Hemiptera: Miridae) are naturally widespread in many crops with low-pesticide pressure, where they prey upon several arthropods, including the tomato pinworm Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). However, their efficacy as biologi...
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Published in | Journal of pest science Vol. 92; no. 4; pp. 1457 - 1466 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Berlin/Heidelberg
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
01.09.2019
Springer Nature B.V |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Dicyphus bolivari
Lindberg and
Dicyphus errans
(Wolff) (Hemiptera: Miridae) are naturally widespread in many crops with low-pesticide pressure, where they prey upon several arthropods, including the tomato pinworm
Tuta absoluta
(Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). However, their efficacy as biological control agents (BCAs) of this pest needs further investigations. Therefore, in this study the predatory efficacy of
D. bolivari
and of
D. errans
on
T. absoluta
was evaluated on tomato in laboratory and greenhouse trials. Their functional response to different numbers of
T. absoluta
eggs (up to 350) offered to single females or 5th-instar nymphs for 24 h was assessed in laboratory. Females and nymphs of both predators showed a high voracity and a type II functional response, with an estimated maximum predation rate per day of 189 and 194 eggs for
D. bolivari
females and nymphs, respectively, and 197 and 179 eggs for
D. errans
females and nymphs, respectively. The predators showed similar predation rates of
T. absoluta
eggs on plants in cage trials. However, our greenhouse trial showed that the commonly used
Macrolophus pygmaeus
(Rambur) (Hemiptera: Miridae), which has a lower individual predation capacity than
D. bolivari
and
D. errans
, was more effective in controlling
T. absoluta
than
D. errans
and
D. bolivari
because of its stronger numerical response to densities of
T. absoluta
and supplemental food than the other two predator species. This shows that long-term greenhouse trials, which include functional and numerical responses to pest densities, are essential to evaluate the efficacy of an omnivorous predator. |
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ISSN: | 1612-4758 1612-4766 |
DOI: | 10.1007/s10340-019-01079-8 |