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Title: OLFACTORY STIMULI INVOLVED IN PREY LOCATION BY NEOSEIULUS CALIFORNICUS (MCGREGOR) (ACARI: PHYTOSEIIDAE) ON APPLE AND ALTERNATE HOST PLANTS.

Author
item COLLIER, K - UENF, CAMPOS, BRAZIL
item ALBUQUERQUE, G - UENF, CAMPOS, BRAZIL
item EIRAS, A - UFMG,BELO HORIZONTE,BRAZI
item BLACKMER, JACQUELYN
item ARAUJO, M - UENF, CAMPOS, BRAZIL
item MONTEIRO, L - UFP,CURITIBA,BRAZIL

Submitted to: Neotropical Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2001
Publication Date: 3/5/2002
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Phytophagous mites (the European red mite and the two-spotted spider mite) cause severe losses in apples in southern Brazil. Currently, biological control with a predatory mite is being used in orchards. To understand how the predatory mite interacts at the olfactory level with both prey on their host plants, we studied the predator's response on apple, as well as on three of the it's alternative winter hosts in a Y-tube olfactometer. On apple, the tests demonstrated that the predatory mite responded significantly to allelochemicals associated with previously infested and uninfested leaves with or without phytophagous mites and their byproducts (feces, eggs, exuviae, and webs). On the winter host plants, we observed that the byproducts were more attractive to the predator on S. rhombifolia and P. tomentosa, whereas infested leaves of T. officinale with or without prey and byproducts did not elicit a response. These results indicate that the volatiles from the host plant, as well as those from the prey and their byproducts, serve as cues for location by the predatory mite. Additionally, volatiles from the flowers of the alternative host plants were highly attractive to the predator, which suggests that this stimuli could be involved in locating pollen, another of its food sources.

Technical Abstract: The phytophagous mites, Panonychus ulmi (Koch) and Tetranychus urticae Koch (Tetranychidae), cause severe losses in apples in southern Brazil. An alternate means of managing both species, currently under way in orchards in Fraiburgo, SC, is the use of the predatory mite Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor). To understand how this predator interacts at the olfactory level with both prey on their host plants, we studied the responses of N. californicus on apple, Malus domestica (Borkham), as well as on three of the predator's alternative winter hosts (Sida rhombifolia L., Plantago tomentosa Lamarck and Taraxacum officinale Weber), in a Y-tube olfactometer. On apple, the tests demonstrated that N. californicus responded significantly to allelochemicals associated with previously infested leaves with or without P. ulmi or T. urticae or their associated byproducts (feces, eggs, exuviae, and webs), as well as to those associated with previously-uninfested leaves + prey and its byproducts. The predator also responded to a mixture of volatile odors from previously-uninfested apple leaves with T. urticae byproducts. In relation to the location of T. urticae by N. californicus on its alternate winter host plants, we observed that the prey byproducts are more attractive to the predator on S. rhombifolia and P. tomentosa, whereas infested leaves of T. officinale with or without prey and its byproducts did not elicit any response. These results indicate that the volatiles from the host plant, as well as those from the prey and its byproducts, serve as cues in prey location by N. californicus. Additionally, volatiles from the flowers of the three alternative host plants were highly attractive to the predator, which suggests that this stimuli could be involved in locating pollen, another of its food sources.