Are wild flowers and insect honeydews potential food resources for adults of the olive moth, Prays oleae?

Abstract

The use of non-crop resources by natural enemies and their potentialities to enhance their effectiveness as pest control agents is increasing as a method for conservation biological control. Nevertheless, the effect of consumption of non-crop resources by pests has been generally overlooked being this knowledge crucial to favor natural enemies but not pests. In the present work, insect honeydews and flowers suitability as food resources for the olive tree key-pest Prays oleae were analyzed under laboratory conditions. The selected honeydews were excreted by Saissetia oleae and Euphyllura olivina, two olive pests, and the selected plants were seven abundant species in the olive grove agroecosystem that bloom simultaneously with the flight period of the anthophagous generation of P. oleae. In this work, some of these resources were identified as potential food sources for P. oleae. Despite the general findings, which indicate that honeydews have less nutritional value for insects than nectar, P. oleae reached the best survival and reproduction performance with the insects’ honeydews. Several of the tested flowers were identified as potential food resources for P. oleae, being Malva sylvestris the one that originated the best performance. Moreover, our results suggest that P. oleae females are synovigenic and emerge with nutritional reserves for reproduction. We highly recommend accomplishing further research before establishing these resources in biological control methods in order to confirm their effect on pests in fields.