Bulletin of Insectology (2003) 56, 259-267
Krisztina Hudák, Joop C. van Lenteren, Yu Tong Qiu and Béla Pénzes (2003)
Foraging behaviour of parasitoids of Bemisia argentifolii on poinsettia
Bulletin of Insectology 56 (2), 259-267
Abstract: The foraging behaviour of five parasitoids of Bemisia argentifolii Bellows and Perring [two strains of Encarsia formosa (Gahan) (NL and MD), Eretmocerus eremicus Rose and Zolnerowich, Eretmocerus mundus Mercet, and Amitus bennetti Viggiani and Evans] on leaves of poinsettia was studied in the laboratory. The residence times, searching activities, numbers of encounters with hosts, numbers of ovipositions, and percentage acceptance of the hosts by the different strains and species of parasitoids were determined by direct observation of the behaviour. Mean residence time of all parasitoids that searched on leaves with hosts varied between 3045 seconds (E. eremicus) and 5657 seconds (A. bennetti). Mean residence time of parasitoids that did not find hosts on these leaves varied between 1915 seconds (E. eremicus) and 4709 seconds (A. bennetti). At the low host densities offered few hosts were encountered; E. mundus found the highest number of hosts. Those parasitoids that encountered a host showed mean residence times that increased from 1.6 fold (E. formosa NL) to 2.7 fold (E. eremicus). In experiments with clean leaves the residence time varied between 653 seconds (A. bennetti) and 1606 seconds (E. formosa NL) and when there was honeydew on the upperside of leaves, residence time varied between 2157 seconds (E. eremicus) and 5285 seconds (A. bennetti). Both contact with honeydew and hosts led to arrestment and, thus, to a higher probability to find hosts. Searching activity (percentage of total time on leaf searching for hosts) varied from 58% (A. bennetti) to 84% (E. mundus). The success ratio (percentage of hosts accepted for oviposition after encounter) was lowest for E. formosa (58%) and highest for A. bennetti (100%). Because of its high searching activity, its high host encounter rate and its favourable developmental and reproductive capabilities, E. mundus is expected to be the most efficient Bemisia parasitoid of the five tested species/strains.
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Database assignments for author(s): Joop C. van Lenteren
Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution
environment/habitat manipulation
Pest and/or beneficial records:
| Beneficial | Pest/Disease/Weed | Crop/Product | Country | Quarant.
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bemisia tabaci biotype MEAM1 | ||||
| Encarsia formosa (parasitoid) | Bemisia tabaci biotype MEAM1 | |||
| Eretmocerus eremicus (parasitoid) | Bemisia tabaci biotype MEAM1 | |||
| Eretmocerus mundus (parasitoid) | Bemisia tabaci biotype MEAM1 | |||
| Amitus bennetti (parasitoid) | Bemisia tabaci biotype MEAM1 |
