Diversity and abundance of green lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in a Conilon coffee plantation in Acre, Brazil

Abstract

Coffea canephora (Conilon coffee) has great economic importance for the state of Acre, in northern Brazil. The use of insecticides in this crop has increased considerably in recent years. In order to find species of green lacewing (Chrysopidae, Neuroptera) with potential for use in biological pest control in coffee plantations, we sampled green lacewings during one year in an experimental plantation of Conilon coffee in Acre, in order to assess the diversity, abundance and seasonal occurrence of Chrysopidae species. Samplings were carried out weekly using an entomological net. Overall, 1079 specimens of seven green lacewing species were collected: Ceraeochrysa cincta, Ceraeochrysa claveri, Ceraeochrysa cubana, Ceraeochrysa everes, Chrysoperla externa, Leucochrysa (Nodita) cruentata and Leucochrysa (Nodita) marquezi. Ceraeochrysa cubana was the dominant and constant species, comprising 97% of the sampled specimens and occurring in 82% of the weekly samples. The abundance and constant presence of C. cubana, which preys upon several agricultural pests and has shown resistance to various insecticides, make this species a potential candidate for future programs of biological control in Conilon coffee plantations in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon region.

Elevational Diversity Patterns of Green Lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) Uncovered With DNA Barcoding in a Biodiversity Hotspot of Southwest China

“…The green lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), a group of important predatory biocontrol agents with a positive role in the management of aphids, coccids, thrips, whiteflies, and mites in the ecosystem (Alford, 2019;Lai and Liu, 2020), had rarely been investigated. The previous studies on the diversity of green lacewings mainly focused on the species richness and/or Shannon-Wiener diversity index in agro-ecosystem (Deutsch et al, 2005;Thierry et al, 2005;Martins et al, 2019) or forest ecosystem (Yi et al, 2018), but rarely investigated on the pattern of β-diversity. For example, Bozdogan (2020) preliminarily explored the richness patterns of a green lacewing community along the elevational gradients from the East Mediterranean but did not document the β-diversity of green lacewing community along the elevational gradients and correlated temperature variation up to now.…”

Diversity of Lacewings (Neuroptera) in an Altitudinal Gradient of the Tacaná Volcano, Southern Mexico

“…The lack of species to be recorded to complete the faunal inventory of the volcano is possibly influenced by the extension of the volcano (by only recording species present in the Mexican section), the high degree of specificity at certain altitudes, and the need for intense efforts for sampling. Several authors discuss the difficulties of sampling and that some require greater efforts both in the time needed and the methods used [ 49 , 53 ]. Due to the fact that the populations present relatively low abundances, the choice of methods also has a clear influence on the characteristics of the samples obtained [ 37 , 38 ].…”

Diversity and temporal variation of brown lacewings (Neuroptera, Hemerobiidae) from Atlantic rainforest areas in southeastern Brazil

“…These results may be related to the need for intense and long-term efforts for Hemerobiidae sampling. The sampling of Neuroptera was addressed by different authors, who stated that, for some groups, is required the combined use of greater and longer sampling efforts and the use of various types of traps (Szentkirályi, 1992(Szentkirályi, , 1997Ábrahám et al, 2003;Lara et al, 2008;Oliveira et al, 2013;Martins et al, 2019;Sarmiento-Cordero et al, 2021).…”