Biological traits of the zoophytophagous predatory mirid Nesidiocoris poppiusi (Heteroptera: Miridae), a candidate biocontrol agent in China.

Mirid predators are increasingly used in biological control of multiple greenhouse crops pests. However, due to great morphological similarity and tiny body size, some mirid predators have been largely confused with their allied species. Nesidiocoris tenuis Reuter as a commercial mirid predator was confused largely with Nesidiocoris poppiusi Carvalho in China. To evaluate the biocontrol potential of N. poppiusi, its biological traits and the functional response to Bemisia tabaci Gennadius were studied compared with N. tenuis under laboratory conditions. The results showed that no significant differences of the developmental times from the first instar to adult stages between the 2 mirids fed on Corcyra cephalonica Stainton eggs were observed, while N. poppiusi had better population growth parameters than N. tenuis. Under the condition with prey, both female and male of N. poppiusi lived significantly longer than those of N. tenuis. It could lay 74.0 eggs, which was significantly higher than that of N. tenuis (30.2 eggs). Under the condition without prey, both N. poppiusi and N. tenuis couldn't complete development to adulthood on tomato, tobacco, muskmelon, and cabbage leaves, however, tobacco and tomato were more suitable than the other 2 plants. A type II functional response was observed for both males and females of the 2 predators. Nesidiocoris poppiusi females consumed significantly more B. tabaci pupae than N. tenuis when prey densities were large than 30. Our results indicated that N. poppiusi could be a promising candidate for biological control of B. tabaci.