Prey preference and biomass consumption of Macrolophus pygmaeus (Hemiptera: Miridae) fed Myzus persicae and Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Title:

Prey preference and biomass consumption of Macrolophus pygmaeus (Hemiptera: Miridae) fed Myzus persicae and Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Creator:

Lykouressis, Dionyssios P. , Perdikis, Dionyssios C., and Gaspari, Maria D.

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:7dbe3c61-18c2-447e-ba6f-9d7814b5def4
uuid:7dbe3c61-18c2-447e-ba6f-9d7814b5def4

Subject:

Miridae, Aphididae, aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, Myzus persicae, biological control, predation, prey preference, biomass consumption, mirid bug, and Macrolophus pygmaeus

Type:

article, model:article, and TEXT

Description:

The predation rate of the polyphagous predator Macrolophus pygmaeus (Rambur) when offered two aphid species, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) and Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas), was investigated. Equal or unequal numbers of nymphs of each instar of the aphids were offered to the predator alone or together. Aphids were placed on an eggplant leaf, together with a fifth instar nymph of the predator in a plastic Petri dish and kept in growth cabinets at 25°C, 65 ± 5% r.h., and a 16L : 8D photoperiod. The predation rate of M. pygmaeus was always higher on M. persicae than on M. euphorbiae. However, biomass consumption was highest when instars of M. euphorbiae were offered in unequal numbers. The predator showed a strong preference and higher biomass consumption of first and second instar M. persicae. In tests where M. euphorbiae was the prey, preference and biomass consumption were almost always higher for the first instar. Therefore, first and second instar M. persicae and first instar M. euphorbiae provide optimal prey for M. pygmaeus. The implication of the prey preference shown by M. pygmaeus for the biological control of these two aphid species is discussed.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
policy:public

Source:

European Journal of Entomology | 2007 Volume:104 | Number:2

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false