Abundance and diversity of lacewings in grower operated organic and conventional pest management programs for Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae)

Abstract

The lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) are predators of several economically important pests in agriculture and they are naturally present in the citrus orchards in Brazil. However, their abundance and diversity needed to be determined in order to identify their role in the management of Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), which is an economically important pest and vector of huanglongbing. Our goals were to identify lacewing species and their abundance in the organic and conventional management programs against ACP in the citrus crops and determine the biological parameters of the predominant species on ACP. The lacewings were monitored in three municipalities of São Paulo state, Brazil, from November 2015 to June 2017. We identified Ceraeochrysa cincta (Schneider), Ceraeochrysa cubana (Hagen), Ceraeochrysa paraguaria (Navás), Chrysoperla externa (Hagen), and Chrysoperla defreitasi Brooks species and those were equally abundant between conventional and organic management psyllid management programs. Ceraeochrysa cincta was predominant in both systems, representing more than 60% of all the specimens. They developed and reproduced successfully on the diet of D. citri nymphs when compared against Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) eggs. The abundance of these multiple species and predominance and development of C. cincta on D. citri suggest their potential use for biological control of D. citri in organic and conventional psyllid management programs.