The Impact of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) on Control of Dysmicoccus neobrevipes Beardsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)

Abstract

Cryptolaemus montrouzieri (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) is an important predator of the mealybug Dysmicoccus neobrevipes (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), a major pest of Agave sisalana in China. Limited reports on the efficacy of C. montrouzieri against D. neobrevipes are available. This study reports the predatory efficacy and functional response of C. montrouzieri against D. neobrevipes under laboratory conditions. The prey consumption rate per day of 4th instar larvae of C. montrouzieri feeding on 1st instar D. neobrevipes nymphs (241.3 mealybugs) was the highest among the different larval life stages of the beetle. For C. montrouzieri, the prey consumption per day of adult females (19.8 mealybugs) was significantly higher compared to males (15.2 mealybugs) when feeding on 3rd instar D. neobrevipes nymphs. The functional responses of C. montrouzieri on 1st and 2nd instar D. neobrevipes nymphs were determined as Holling type II. The search rates of C. montrouzieri 4th instar larvae towards the 1st and 2nd instar nymphs of D. neobrevipes were higher than those of the other beetle life stages. In addition, the handling times of 4th instar larvae were shorter than those of the other beetle life stages. The results from this study indicate that C. montrouzieri can be used as a predator of D. neobrevipes and, therefore, it should be evaluated further for use as a biocontrol agent in D. neobrevipes management programs.

Development of a Specific Nested PCR Assay for the Detection of 16SrI Group Phytoplasmas Associated with Sisal Purple Leafroll Disease in Sisal Plants and Mealybugs

“…[ 34 ]. Feeding by D. neobrevipes may cause leaf yellowing, defoliation, reduced plant growth and, in some cases, cause plant death [ 35 ]. It was also reported to be a vector for only a few viruses, such as PMWaV [ 36 ], grapevine leafroll viruses [ 37 ], and little cherry virus [ 38 ].…”

The green lacewingChrysopa formosaas a potential biocontrol agent for managingSpodoptera frugiperdaandSpodoptera litura

“…A steady decline in the predation efficiency of predators with the growth of the prey has been demonstrated in many chrysopids (Hassanpour et al ., 2011; Tavares et al ., 2011; Ganjisaffar and Perring, 2015; Qin et al ., 2019). Similarly, the highest consumption and shortest-handling time was observed for adults of C .…”

“…Type I is represented by a linear increase in the predation rate, type II corresponds to an increase at a decelerating rate to a plateau and type III is represented as a sigmoid increase. The analysis of functional response characteristics is important for understanding predation efficiency of a predator and for evaluating the potential of a predator as a candidate for biological control programs (Cuthbert et al, 2018;Pan et al, 2019;Qin et al, 2019;Viteri Jumbo et al, 2019). As S. frugiperda expands its range across China, and even the globe, the potential for using native natural enemies is uncertain.…”

Effects of Mineral Oils, Palizin and Buprofezin on Functional and Numerical Responses of Predatory Ladybeetle Cryptolaemus montrouzieri (Mulsant, 1850)

“…Type II of functional response has also been demonstrated for coccinellids, Oenopia conglobata Linnaeus feeding on different densities of Schizaphis graminum Rondani (PahlavanYali & Bozorg-Amirkalaee, 2018) and Harmonia axyridis Pallas preying on crapemyrtle aphid, Tinocallis kahawaluokalani Kirkaldy (GholamzadehChitgar, 2019). Qin, Wu, Qiu, Ali, & Cuthbertson (2019) reported the functional response of C. montrouzieri predating on mealybug, Dysmicoccus neobrevipes Cockerell as type II. According to the results, insecticides exposure did not change the type of the functional response of C. montrouzieri.…”

“…The numerical response of Amblyseius largoensis Muma (Acari: Phytoseiidae) was affected by exposure to abamectin, where just 60% of the females oviposited (Barros et al, 2022). Many studies had been done on the predatory behavior of C. montrouzieri (Jamila, 2011;Abdolahi Ahi et al, 2012;Saljoqi et al, 2015;Qin, Wu, Qiu, Ali, & Cuthbertson, 2019), but there are only a few information on the effect of pesticides on the type and parameters of the functional response (Pakyari, Kasirloo, & Arbab, 2016). Torres & Marcano (2015) tested the numerical response of C. montrouzieri to seven densities of third instar nymphs of Maconellicoccus hirsutus Green.…”