Roda Amy, Castillo Jose, Allen Carina, Urbaneja Alberto, Pérez-Hedo Meritxell, Weihman Scott, Stansly Philip A
United States Department of Agriculture, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine, Science and Technology, Miami, FL 33158, USA.
Department of Entomology and Nematology, Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Immokalee, FL 34142, USA.
Insects. 2020 Oct 1;11(10):670. doi: 10.3390/insects11100670.
Miridae (Hemiptera) of the tribe Dicyphini are important zoophytophagous predators use to control pest arthropods in vegetable crops. However, the risk that their herbivory may cause economic damage could hinder their application as useful biocontrol agents and may limit the likelihood they would meet regulatory requirements for importation. We conducted field cage studies to assess the predation capacity and tomato plant damage of three mirid species established in south USA, a known biocontrol agent (), and two native species ( and ). All three species significantly reduced the number of whiteflies () on tomato plants compared to tomato plants without mirids. More damage, evaluated as the number of necrotic rings, was observed on tomato plants with and compared to In our experiments that included sesame plants () with tomato plants, mirid numbers increased despite a low number of prey, thus showing a benefit of the plant-feeding habit of these predators. USA's established mirids may therefore prove to be immediately available biological agents for the management of present and future tomato pests.
盲蝽科（半翅目）的双睫盲蝽族昆虫是重要的植食性捕食者，可用于控制蔬菜作物中的害虫节肢动物。然而，它们的植食行为可能造成经济损害的风险，可能会阻碍它们作为有用的生物防治剂的应用，并可能限制它们符合进口监管要求的可能性。我们进行了田间笼养研究，以评估在美国南部已定居的三种盲蝽、一种已知的生物防治剂（）以及两种本地物种（和）的捕食能力和对番茄植株的损害。与没有盲蝽的番茄植株相比，所有这三种物种都显著减少了番茄植株上粉虱（）的数量。与相比，在有和的番茄植株上观察到更多以坏死环数量衡量的损害。在我们将芝麻植株（）与番茄植株一起种植的实验中，尽管猎物数量较少，但盲蝽数量仍有所增加，从而显示出这些捕食者的植食习性的益处。因此，美国已定居的盲蝽可能被证明是可立即用于管理当前和未来番茄害虫的生物制剂。
