A laboratory study revealed that females of the phytoseiid mite, Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, fed on protonymphs of their own species or of other predatory mites i.e. Agistemus exsertus Gonzales and Euseius scutalis Athias-Henriot exhibited a marked decline in their fecundity and a shortening in their longevity. Moreover, the rate of predation was also reduced. When A. swirskii females were fed on nymphs of the twospotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch after having been fed previously on protonymphs of either A. swirskii or A. exsertus increases in the rates of oviposition and consumption were observed, although these rates were lower than those of conspecific females reared continuously on the two-spotted spider mite only.
The responses of 3 phytoseiid mite species Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, Phytoseiusfinitimus Ribaga and Amblyseius gossipi Elbadry to allelochemics emitted by prey mite species Tetranychus urticae Koch, Brevipalpus pulcher (Canestrini & Fanzago) and Eriophyes dioscoridis Soliman & Abou-Awad were studied using a test of two-choice assays. The repelle,at effect elicited by the tenuipalpid mite, B. pulcher and the eriophyid mite, E. dioscoridis against P. persimilis could be an evidence for the existence of allomones produced by these 2 prey species. The negative response of P. persimilis to the different stadia of B. pulcher and the attraction of P. finitimus toward the same prey suggest that the volatile semiochemicals produced by this prey act as kairomones for P. finitimus and as allomones for P. persimilis. The strong attraction of P. finitimus and A. gossipi to the different stadia of T. urticae and the considerable attraction of either predator to B. pulcher compared to the neutral response to E. dioscorMis reveal that both predators show a hierarchy of preference for the kairomones of the 3 prey species studied.
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