Cannibalism and intraguild predation in Typhlodromus exhilaratus and T. phialatus (Acari: Phytoseiidae) under laboratory conditions

Abstract

Two species of Phytoseiidae are found in the same agroecosystem: Typhlodromus exhilaratus prevails in vine plots, while T. phialatus prevails in uncultivated surrounding areas. The objective of the present paper was to investigate whether the poor settlement of T. phialatus in vine plots can be explained by intraguild predation of these two species and/or cannibalism. Predatory abilities of the females on larvae and protonymphs were studied under laboratory conditions. A first experiment was conducted with only conspecific or heterospecific phytoseiid prey, in a second experiment Tetranychus urticae eggs were added to the phytoseiid prey. Oviposition, prey consumption, and escape rates of females were recorded. Oviposition and intraguild predation rates were higher for T. exhilaratus than for T. phialatus. Typhlodromus exhilaratus consumed fewer conspecifics than heterospecific phytoseiids, and oviposited when feeding on both diets. Typhlodromus phialatus consumed equal amounts of con- and heterospecifics. Although these two generalist predators belong to the type III defined by McMurtry and Croft (Annual Review of Entomology 42:291-321, 1997), our results suggest that they have different predation behaviour. However, because these results were obtained in experiments where no choice was given between the two phytoseiid species, they are difficult to link to previous studies conducted on the intraguild predation of the Phytoseiidae. The greater voracity and prolificacy of T. exhilaratus could partially explain the poor settlement of T. phialatus in vineyards and the predominance of T. exhilaratus. However, a full understanding of this phenomenon will require the study of other factors, such as susceptibility to pesticides and micro-climatic conditions, as well as the ability to cope with different food sources and host plants.

Intraguild predation among Scolothrips longicornis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), Neoseiulus californicus and Typhlodromus bagdasarjani (Acari: Phytoseiidae) under laboratory conditions

“…In unidirectional, 1 of the 2 predator species preys on the other and in bidirectional, both predators prey on each other (Madadi et al ., ). IGP occurs between wide varieties of natural enemies, for example, anthocorids and encyrtids (Erbilgin et al ., ), coccinellids and coccinellids (Noia et al ., ), coccinellids, chrysopids, and cecidomyiids (Gardiner & Landis, ), phytoseiids and phytoseiids (Walzer & Schausberger, ,b; Hatherly et al ., ; Meszaros et al ., ; Cakmak et al ., ), phytoseiids and anthocorids (Madadi et al ., ; Chow et al ., ), and phytoseiids and thripids (van der Hoeven & van Rijn, ; Faraji, ; Janssen et al ., ; Walzer et al ., ; Magalhaes et al ., ; Walzer & Schausberger, ) and can be affected by several factors such as environmental conditions, host plant characteristics (Madadi et al ., ), mobility of prey (Provost et al ., ), vulnerability of prey (Noia et al ., ), feeding specificity (this study), and presence of extraguild (EG) prey (Lucas, ).…”

How to evaluate the potential occurrence of intraguild predation

“…Seven of these 18 papers met the criteria suggested here: they reported the predation of the IG predator on the IG prey as well as some fitness benefit due to this predation (Meszaros et al 2007; Momen and Abdel-Khalek 2009; Momen 2010; Buitenhuis et al 2010; Mendel and Schausberger 2011; Montserrat et al 2012; Gotoh et al 2014). The other papers, including some of our own (Cakmak et al 2006; Montserrat et al 2008), did not include the treatment with the potential IG predator alone to establish fitness benefits (i.e.…”

Tingkat pemangsaan Neoseiulus longispinosus Evans (Acari: Phytoseiidae) terhadap Tetranychus urticae Koch dan Tetranychus kanzawai Kishida (Acari: Tetranychidae) serta perilaku kanibalismenya

“…Hasil penelitinan Momen (2010) menyatakan bahwa nutrisi yang didapatkan oleh Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes (Acari: Phtyoseiidae) dari proses kanibalisme (larva atau nimfa) membuat predator dapat bereproduksi dan bertahan untuk beberapa waktu. Hal yang sama juga diungkapkan oleh Meszaros et al (2007) bahwa Typhlodromus exhilaratus Ragusa dan Typhlodromus phialatus Athias-Henriot dapat menghasilkan telur pada uji kanibalisme dan pemangsaan jenis phytoseiid lainnya. Menurut Hoy (2011), imago betina tungau predator dapat menyimpan deposit sperma.…”