<i>Orius albidipennis</i> (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae): Intraguild predation of and prey preference for <i>Neoseiulus cucumeris</i> (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on different host plants

Abstract

A widespread interaction in natural enemy populations is intraguild predation (IGP), the intensity and outcome of which may be influenced by several factors. This study examined the influence of host plant characteristics on IGP between Orius albidipennis (Reuter) and Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) in laboratory experiments. The intraguild predation between the two predators was bi-directional, but predation by N. cucumeris on O. albidipennis is presumably of negligible importance. Orius albidipennis preyed uponmite eggs and adults in the absence of Thrips tabaci (Lindeman) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), but in its presence predation on mite eggs was abandoned and predation on adult mites unchanged (sweet pepper) or reduced (eggplant, cucumber). The IGP-level of O. albidipennis on N. cucumeris was highest on sweet pepper and lowest on cucumber. Inclusion of host plant aspects in evaluations of the IGPpotential between predators intended for simultaneous applications for biocontrol is thus of importance.

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

“…IGP is seen as a common phenomenon among arthropod food webs (Polis et al ., ) and may be unidirectional or bidirectional. 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, ).…”

Plant quality effects on intraguild predation between Orius laevigatus and Aphidoletes aphidimyza

“…The N fertilizers applied to produce high-quality crops will increase plant nutritional quality and consequently also populations of insect herbivores (Mengel & Kirkby, 2001;Chau et al, 2005), which may subsequently be targeted through a simultaneous use of several biocontrol agents, hereby facilitating interactions among predators (De Clercq et al, 2003;Madadi et al, 2008). The N fertilizers applied to produce high-quality crops will increase plant nutritional quality and consequently also populations of insect herbivores (Mengel & Kirkby, 2001;Chau et al, 2005), which may subsequently be targeted through a simultaneous use of several biocontrol agents, hereby facilitating interactions among predators (De Clercq et al, 2003;Madadi et al, 2008).…”

“…Greenhouse conditions offer an ideal opportunity to study the consequences of plant quality and IGP interactions for prey suppression. The N fertilizers applied to produce high-quality crops will increase plant nutritional quality and consequently also populations of insect herbivores (Mengel & Kirkby, 2001;Chau et al, 2005), which may subsequently be targeted through a simultaneous use of several biocontrol agents, hereby facilitating interactions among predators (De Clercq et al, 2003;Madadi et al, 2008). Our research consequently focuses on an assemblage of arthropods that may inhabit greenhouse cucumber, an important greenhouse crop worldwide.…”

Intraguild Predation And Cannibalism Among Mite Predators: Stethorus gilvifrons (Mulsant) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Orius albidipennis (Reuter) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) And Scolothrips longicornis Priesner (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)

“…IG predator O. albidipennis showed higher predation rate on S. longicornis than on conspecific nymphs. As a polyphagous predator, Orius may not discriminate between predatory and phytophagous insects and mites (Madadi et al, 2008). This has led to some concerns about interference with other biological control agents.…”

“…In Egypt T. Urticae on eggplant is usually attacked by several predators such as Stethorus gilvifrons (Mulsant) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Orius albidipennis (Reuter) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) and Scolothrips longicornis Priesner (Thysanoptera: Thripidae). While some predators, such as S.gilvifrons and S. longicornis are specialized on mites (Cranham and Helle, 1985;Helle and Sabelis, 1985;Sarhan et al, 1989;Rott and Ponsonby, 2000), others like O.albidipennis have polyphagous habits and their prey range includes spider mites, thrips, whiteflies and/or eggs and larvae of coleopteran and lepidopteran species (Tawfik and Ata,1973;Zaki,1989;Madadi et al, 2008;Madadi et al, 2009).…”