Prey suitability of Tuta absoluta larvae (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) for three predatory phytoseiid mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae) under laboratory conditions

Abstract

Tomato crop in the Mediterranean Basin has been recently affected by the exotic pest Tuta absoluta (Meyrick), which is difficult to control due to its high reproduction rate and potential to develop resistance to insecticides. In this paper, the suitability and effectiveness of three predatory phytoseiid mites Cydnoseius negevi (Swirski and Amitai), Neoseiulus barkeri (Hughes) and Amblyseius largoensis (Muma), an indigenous species, were evaluated on larvae of T. absoluta under laboratory conditions. First instar larvae of T. absoluta proved to be possible food source for tested phytoseiid mites under laboratory conditions. Females of C. negevi, A. largoensis and N. barkeri were able to feed and sustain oviposition on unfed, first instar larvae of T. absoluta. A diet of insect larvae provided the shortest oviposition period and adult longevity of C. negevi and A. largoensis, while N. barkeri showed the longest corresponding periods. The total and daily number of insect larvae consumed was significantly higher in N. barkeri than in A. largoensis and C. negevi. Likewise, N. barkeri laid significantly higher number of eggs (23.6 eggs / female) than that deposited by C. negevi and A. largoensis (2.5 and 3.9 eggs / female). The sex ratio of the progeny was female biased and ranged: (females / total=0.62-0.68%) when insect larvae were provided for females of C. negevi, A. largoensis and N. barkeri.

Suitability of date palm pollen as an alternative food source for the predatory mite Cydnoseius negevi (Swirski and Amitai) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) at a low relative humidity

“…The biology and life table parameters of several phytoseiid mite species feeding on date palm pollen have been studied so far, e.g., Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) bagdasarjani Wainstein & Arutunjan (Abou-Elella et al 2013;Riahi et al 2016;, Euseius scutalis (Athias-Henriot) (Al-Shammery 2011;Abou-Elella et al 2013;Abou-Elella et al 2014;Fouly et al 2013), E. finlandicus (Oudemans) (Abou-Elella et al 2014), and Proprioseiopsis asetus (Chant) (Fouly 1997) (Table 4). Moreover, several studies have been conducted on C. negevi feeding on different preys, e.g., tetranychid and eriophyid mites, and small insects (Table 5) (Momen 1997;Abou-Awad et al 1989;Negm et al 2014;Metwally et al 2015) (Table 5). All these biological studies were conducted at high relative humidity, i.e., not less than 65 % RH.…”

Evaluation of the effectiveness of Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) as a predator of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick)

“…These predators are able to feed and sustain oviposition on eggs of T. absoluta. The predatory activities of these three species have also been reported which were proven to prey on unfed, 1 st instar larvae of T. absoluta under laboratory conditions (Metwally et al, 2015). While several researches have been carried out on predatory mite species, scarce informations are available about the effectiveness of N. cucumeris as a predator of T. absoluta, which has largely been found in infested tomato plantations in Qassim region, Saudi Arabia (Al- Azzazy et al, 2018).…”