Intraguild Predation of on Aphid Mummies in Cotton Field.

Intraguild predation among arthropod predators in agricultural ecosystems may have a negative impact on biological control. At present, there are few direct reports on trophic relationships among participants of predation in field groups. In this study, we measured the feeding choices of (Goeze) towards mummies with different densities of Glover. The dynamics of the occurrence of mummies in the cotton field were investigated over 2017-2019. Singleplex PCR and multiplex PCR were used to detect the predation of 2090 individuals on aphids and mummies in Xinjiang cotton field, which revealed the intraguild predation frequency between and various parasitoids. There was no obvious feeding preference of towards live aphids or mummies, which mainly depended on the relative density of prey. Among the four species of aphids detected in , had a high detection rate and was the main prey source of the ladybeetle in the cotton filed. Mostly, ladybeetles consumed parasitoids through mummies, with 6.39% directly feeding on adult parasitoids. had strong trophic links to both parasitoids and aphids. We established a food web of aphids-primary parasitoids-hyperparasitoids-, which can be used to evaluate the pest control ability of from a new perspective.