| Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae) diet affects its attack latency, oviposition and predation rates |
| Paper ID : 1035-IPCA5 (R1) |
| Authors |
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mohammad khazaei *1, Azadeh Zahedi Golpayegani2, Alireza Saboori3, Helen Mohammadi4 1mohammmad.khazae@ut.ac.ir 2zahedig@ut.ac.ir 3+98 912 186 4187 4helenmohamadi@ut.ac.ir |
| Abstract |
| Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot is considered a type III generalist predator with a wide prey type spectrum. Here, we have studied the effect of feeding A. swirskii either with eggs or larvae of Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) on the predator attack latency, oviposition, and predation rate. Experiment arenas consisted of 6 cm (diameter) Petri dishes. The detached upside-down bean leaves (9 × 3 cm²) were potted on water-saturated cotton in each Petri dish. The diet consisted of 10 same-aged newly oviposited/emerged T. urticae eggs or larvae. The same aged female predators were kept starved for seven hours before the experiment. The experiment was started by introducing the female predator into the arena. Monitorings were performed once every six hours till day 4th. Data were analyzed using an independent t-test in SPSS 25. Our results showed that the predator attack latency was significantly lower when A. swirskii fed on T. urticae larvae compared to when it fed on eggs (0.2 ± 0.3 and 1.37 ± 0.19, respectively; p < 0.01). The predator oviposition rate was significantly higher when A. swirskii fed on prey larvae compared to when it preyed on eggs (2.41 ± 0.37 and 1.08 ± 0.08, respectively; p < 0.01). No significant difference was recorded between the predation rate of A. swirskii when fed on either of the diets (2.66 ± 0.41, 3.41 ± 0.37 for feeding on eggs and larva respectively, p > 0.05). We suggest is that although T. urticae larva is active rather than the egg, the predation incline of A. swirskii towards larva could be due to its higher nutrition value. |
| Keywords |
| Attack latency, Diet effect, Oviposition rate, Predation rate, Predatory mite |
| Status: Abstract Accepted |
