Non-target effects of commonly used plant protection products in roses on the predatory mite Euseius gallicus Kreiter & Tixier (Acari: Phytoseidae)

Abstract

Azadirachtin-A, acetamiprid, flonicamid, boscalid and kresoxim-methyl, cyprodinil + fludioxonil, dodemorph and fluopyram + tebuconazole were harmless for E. gallicus. Special attention should be paid to the impact of neonicotinoids and of acequinocyl and etoxazole, and to the application frequency with flonicamid on E. gallicus. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Comparison of bacterial microbiota of the predatory mite Neoseiulus cucumeris (Acari: Phytoseiidae) and its factitious prey Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Acari: Acaridae)

“…Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae) are amongst the most important predators used in plant protection against arthropod pests such as spider mites, whiteflies and thrips 1–3 . Many species of commercially available phytoseiid mites are mass reared using astigmatid mites (Acari: Astigmata) as factitious prey 4,5 .…”

“…For the mass-rearing of N. cucumeris , the acaricid mite T. putrescentiae is used as factitious prey 21 . While some information on certain endosymbionts of N. cucumeris and T. putrescentiae 2,3 exists there is no information regarding the intrinsic microbiota of these species, or the effects of predatory-prey mite interactions on the ecology of these microbiota. Although mites are kept at high densities in mass rearing units it is still unclear whether both species share bacterial communities due to horizontal transfer via predation, contact or the feces 6 .…”

Biological control of Echinothrips americanus by phytoseiid predatory mites and the effect of pollen as supplemental food

“…The predatory mite E. gallicus is relatively new (Tixier et al 2010) and was found to occur on greenhouse rose plants (Döker et al 2014). In this crop it is now advised to use together with pollen for controlling thrips and whiteflies because of its good performance on pollen Put et al 2016). However, this study does not provide any evidence for better development on pollen on sweet pepper plants than the predatory mites A. swirskii and E. ovalis.…”

“…In this study we assessed which stages of E. americanus are attacked and killed by four species of phytoseiid predatory mites: (1) Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) and (2) Amblydromalus limonicus (Garman and McGregor), both commercially available and effective predators of western flower thrips (Knapp et al 2013;Messelink et al 2006), (3) Euseius gallicus Kreiter and Tixier, recently commercialised and promoted to control thrips in roses in combination with pollen application Put et al 2016) and (4) Euseius ovalis (Evans), an effective predator of western flower thrips and whiteflies (Messelink et al 2008). Both the predation and oviposition rates of the predatory mites were assessed in the laboratory to evaluate which mite species is potentially the most effective predator of E. americanus.…”

“…However, not only these factors are important for the selection of efficient predators, but also how well the predators develop on alternative food sources that are used to conserve predator populations in greenhouses (Messelink et al 2014). Several studies showed that adding pollen to a crop can enhance pest control by predatory mites (Adar et al 2014;Delisle et al 2015;Duarte et al 2015;Leman and Messelink 2015;Nomikou et al 2010;van Rijn et al 2002) and this was recently validated in commercial greenhouse crops such as roses (Put et al 2016). Therefore, we evaluated how the control of E. americanus is affected by the application of pollen as supplemental food for the predatory mites.…”