Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry (2010) 34, 415-420

Ihab Ghabeish, Azzam Saleh and Abdulfattah Dababat (2010)
Prey preference, interaction with selected natural enemies, and alternative nutritional sources of the mirid bug Dicyphus tamaninii Wagner
Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry 34 (5), 415-420
Abstract: The present study aimed to investigate the prey preference of the omnivorous bug Dicyphus tamaninii Wagner (Heteroptera: Miridae) among 5 different prey species, and its interaction with 3 different natural enemies commonly used in greenhouses. Moreover, the survival duration of the predator was studied in response to different nutritional sources. In multi-choice trials all developmental stages of the predator tested, namely N₃, N₅, and adult female, showed a clear preference for Aphis gossypii Glover over other prey species offered. Nonetheless, a considerable number of Tetranychus urticae Koch, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), and Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) were also consumed. Myzus persicae (Sulzer) was the least preferred by all the predatory stages tested. In a separate experiment, D. tamaninii was able to complete its development from N₁ to adult stage in an average of 21 days, with 20% mortality, when offered only T. urticae as prey.As testing all of the potential interactions with other beneficial arthropods is not practical, the present study focused on 3 natural enemies most likely to be disrupted by a possible release of D. tamaninii in a greenhouse; these were Amblyseius cucumeris Oudenmans, Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henrriot, and Aphidius colemani Viereck (A. gossypii mummies), in the presence of unparasitized A. gossypii nymphs. The results show that D. tamaninii mostly attacked unparasitized A. gossypii first. Moreover, an average of only 3.8 A. cucumeris, 2.6 P. persimilis, and 0.2 A. colemani individuals day^-1 female^-1 were attacked. Furthermore, the results show that D. tamaninii females were able to survive for 41.2, 14.5, 9.8, and 3.8 days when offered only A. gossypii, honey emulsion, cucumber plant, or no food, respectively.
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Database assignments for author(s): Abdelfattah A. Dababat

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution
environment/habitat manipulation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Aphis gossypii
Dicyphus tamaninii (predator)	Aphis gossypii