International Journal of Pest Management (2014) 60, 121-127

Sergio Pérez-Guerrero, Asnake Gelan-Begna, Alberto Redondo Villa, Rafael Tamajón and Enrique Vargas-Osuna (2014)
Lethal and sublethal effects of commercial insecticides on Philodromus buxi, a potential predator of defoliating Lepidoptera in dehesa woodland in southern Spain
International Journal of Pest Management 60 (2), 121-127
Abstract: Chemical and other selective insecticides are annually used as foliar treatments against defoliating Lepidoptera in the southern Spanish open woodland (known as dehesa), one of the largest forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean basin. In order to analyse the negative impact of these treatments on beneficial arthropods, the toxic effect of the three authorised insecticides on Philodromus buxi Simon (Araneae: Philodromidae), the most abundant tree canopy spider in southern Spain, was tested under laboratory conditions. Cypermethrin was the most harmful insecticide 96 hours after application, causing around 90% corrected mortality, while flufenoxuron (an insect growth-regulator) prompted around 45% mortality, and Bacillus thuringiensis caused no mortality at all. In addition, flufenoxuron produced a clear alteration in the predatory capacity of P. buxi, increasing the reaction times of treated specimens, and additional mortality associated with the moulting process. Bacillus thuringiensis caused no effects in reaction times, growth or moulting. The results obtained clearly indicate that B. thuringiensis is the most suitable of the authorised insecticides for conserving populations of P. buxi in dehesa woodland in southern Spain.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
resistance to pesticides

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
Philodromus buxi (predator)			Spain (continental)