Can the Generalist Predator Kirby Be Effectively Employed in the Biological Control of (J. E. Smith)?

Kirby, a generalist predator, consumes a variety of pests. To better understand its predatory behavior and capacity, particularly against (J. E. Smith), we identified the field species and investigated the predation capacity of the third-instar larvae and adults of both sexes against the first- to sixth-instar larvae, pupae, and male and female adults of . The predation preference for different developmental stages of was further examined. Our results indicated that can prey on in various stages, including larvae and adults, demonstrating robust predatory abilities. Among them, female adults of exhibited the strongest predatory ability against first-instar larvae of , with the highest daily consumption of 38.90 ± 0.79 individuals. The first-instar larvae of also showed a certain predatory ability towards , with a daily consumption of 6.95 ± 0.88 individuals per predator. The predation ability of larvae increased with larval growth, especially for the first to third instar of larvae, and female adults had the strongest predation ability, followed by male adults and then third-instar larvae. However, there was no significant difference in predation capacity against fourth- to sixth-instar larvae and male and female adults of nor between adults of both sexes and third-instar larvae of . The predation choice experiment revealed that the third-instar larvae and male and female adults of showed a positive preference for larvae from the first to fourth instars, while for the fifth- to sixth-instar larvae, they exhibited a negative preference. Overall, exhibited a strong ability to prey on Our study indicates that has the potential for application in the biological control of .