<p class="Body"><strong>Prey stage preference and functional and numerical responses of<em> Neoseiulus barkeri </em>Hughes<em> </em>(Acari: Phytoseiidae)<em> </em>to eggs of <em>Raoiella indica </em>Hirst (Acari: Tenuipalpidae)</strong></p>

Abstract

Raoiella indica Hirst (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) is a polyphagous pest widely dispersed worldwide and a particular threat to crops from the Arecaceae family. Control measures are still being evaluated in recently invaded countries. A possible control strategy for this pest is the use of predatory mites. A recent study has suggested Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as a potential biological control agent of R. indica. In the present study we determined the prey stage preference of N. barkeri when offered different stages of R. indica besides its functional response and numerical over its prey stage preferred. The predatory mite N. barkeri showed a marked preference for eggs over other stages of the prey. The regression analysis indicated that the predatory mite N. barkeri exhibited a Type II functional response. The prey density needed to start the oviposition was 10 R. indica eggs. The number of eggs laid by N. barkeri females increased with an increase in the prey density and tended to stabilize when prey availability was greater than 80 R. indica eggs, with average oviposition of 2 eggs/female. Our study suggests that N. barkeri shows potential to reduce populations of R. indica, especially at low prey densities. However, further studies are needed to investigate whether R. indica supports the development of immature stages of N. barkeri.

Selectivity of acaricides to Neoseiulus barkeri (Hughes) (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

“…Neoseiulus barkeri (Hughes), a commercial species of Phytoseiidae, has received attention due to the control of different important species pest (Filgueiras, Mendes, Da Silva, et al, 2020b;Filgueiras, Mendes, Neto, et al, 2020a;Filgueiras, Silva, Neto, et al, 2020c;Knapp et al, 2018;van Lenteren et al, 2018;Vásquez et al, 2023). According to the classification proposed by Mcmurtry et al (2013), N. barkeri is a type III generalist species that feeds preferentially on prey, including mite of different families and small insects, such as immature thrips and whiteflies (Mouden et al, 2017;Nomikou et al, 2001), and also on plant by subproducts, such as pollen and nectar (Rezaie & Askarieh, 2016;Van Rijn, 1991).…”

“…Neoseiulus barkeri (Hughes), a commercial species of Phytoseiidae, has received attention due to the control of different important species pest (Filgueiras, Mendes, Da Silva, et al., 2020b; Filgueiras, Mendes, Neto, et al., 2020a; Filgueiras, Silva, Neto, et al., 2020c; Knapp et al., 2018; van Lenteren et al., 2018; Vásquez et al., 2023). According to the classification proposed by Mcmurtry et al.…”

Functional and numerical responses of the predatory mite Amblyseius aerialis (Acari: Phytoseiidae) to Aceria guerreronis (Acari: Eriophyidae)

“…The study of the functional and numerical responses of a predator represents an important step in determination of its ability to regulate pests (Filgueiras et al 2020) providing relevant information about the predation rate and prey density (Solomon 1949), and its ability to convert food into eggs (Hassell 1978). Thus, our study evaluated the functional and numerical responses of this predator to different densities of A. guerreronis.…”

The effects of short‐term heat stress on functional response ofNeoseiulus barkeritoTetranychus urticae

“…The functional response focuses on the relationship between an individual's consumption rate and food density (Solomon, 1949; Rahman et al., 2012; Kumar et al., 1999; Patel & Zhang, 2017; Fathipour et al., 2017,2021; Zhu et al., 2019; Filgueiras et al., 2020; Han et al., 2020). Moreover, it can show search efficiencies and predation rates of predators and the evaluation of this behaviour of predators is a critical first step in determining their ability to regulate the prey (Ahn et al., 2010; Xiao & Fadamiro, 2010).…”