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Title: FORAGING BEHAVIOR AND PREY INTERACTIONS BY A GUILD OF PREDATORS ON VARIOUS LIFESTAGES OF BEMISIA TABACI

Author
item Hagler, James
item Jackson, Charles
item ISAACS, RUFUS - MICHIGAN STATE UNIV ENTOM
item Machtley, Scott

Submitted to: Journal of Insect Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2003
Publication Date: 1/1/2004
Citation: HAGLER, J.R., JACKSON, C.G., ISAACS, R., MACHTLEY, S.A. 2004. FORAGING BEHAVIOR AND PREY INTERACTIONS BY A GUILD OF PREDATORS ON VARIOUS LIFESTAGES OF BEMISIA TABACI. JOURNAL OF INSECT SCIENCE. 4: 1-13.

Interpretive Summary: A laboratory investigation was conducted to quantify the foraging behavior of the adults of five common whitefly predators presented with an abundant supply of whitefly eggs, nymphs and adults. Lady beetles and collops beetles fed mostly on whitefly eggs, but readily and rapidly preyed on all of the whitefly lifestages. Big-eyed bugs and minute pirate bugs preyed almost exclusively on adult whiteflies, while western tarnished plant bugs preyed almost exclusively on nymphs. The true bugs had much longer prey handling times than the beetles and spent much more of their time feeding (35-42%) than the beetles (6-7%). These results indicate that generalist predators vary significantly in their interaction with this host, and that foraging behavior should be considered during development of a predator-based biological control program for whiteflies.

Technical Abstract: The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is fed upon by a wide variety of generalist predators, but there is little information on these predator-prey interactions. A laboratory investigation was conducted to quantify the foraging behavior of the adults of five common whitefly predators presented with a surfeit of whitefly eggs, nymphs and adults. The beetles, Hippodamia convergens Guérin-Méneville and Collops vittatus (Say) fed mostly on whitefly eggs, but readily and rapidly preyed on all of the whitefly lifestages. The true bugs, Geocoris punctipes (Say) and Orius tristicolor (Say) preyed almost exclusively on adult whiteflies, while Lygus hesperus Knight preyed almost exclusively on nymphs. The true bugs had much longer prey handling times than the beetles and spent much more of their time feeding (35-42%) than the beetles (6-7%). These results indicate that generalist predators vary significantly in their interaction with this host, and that foraging behavior should be considered during development of a predator-based biological control program for B. tabaci.