Abstract
Background: Egg cannibalism is common in nature. In China, Arma custos (Hemiptera: Asopinae) has been widely used as a natural enemy to control agricultural and forestry pests. A previous study showed that adult A. custos devour their eggs. However, no research has investigated the interaction between A. custos cannibalism and egg development. Clarifying the mechanisms involved in egg cannibalism by A. custos improves our understanding of the evolutionary relationships to enable more efficient mass rearing and biological control systems.Results: Virgin females showed a lower egg cannibalism inclination than gravid females. Both virgin and mated females showed a higher egg cannibalism inclination than virgin and mated males. The first and second instar nymphs did not devour eggs. The third, fourth, and fifth instar nymphs devoured eggs. Younger eggs were more readily eaten than older eggs. Neither A. custos nymphs nor female adults consumed all the available eggs, allowing an emergence ratio of >70%.Conclusion:Arma custos females exhibit a higher tendency for egg cannibalism than males. Egg cannibalism varies not only with the developmental stage of the eggs and nymphs but also with sex and reproductive status of A. custos females. These findings help us to better understand the evolutionary relationships in egg cannibalism by A. custos and contribute to the efficient mass rearing and realization of A. custos in biological control systems.
Highlights
In China, Arma custos Fallou (Hemiptera: Asopinae) (Zhao et al, 2018) is a well-known predaceous pentatomid that prefers to prey on insects of coleopterans, hymenopterans, hemipterans, and lepidopterans (Zou et al, 2012; Wu et al, 2020)
The number of eggs consumed by virgin female A. custos was lower than that of mated females (Figure 1B: Tukey HSD test, p < 0.05)
Our results indicate that virgin females showed a lower egg cannibalism inclination than gravid females, both virgin and mated females showed a higher egg cannibalism inclination than virgin and mated males, the number of eggs consumed by virgin female A. custos was lower than that of mated females, both virgin and mated females consumed more eggs than virgin and mated males, and both virgin and mated females showed a lower egg cannibalism inclination, supporting our first hypothesis: mated female A. custos devour more eggs than virgin females, and reproductive status has no effect on male egg cannibalism
Summary
In China, Arma custos Fallou (Hemiptera: Asopinae) (Zhao et al, 2018) is a well-known predaceous pentatomid that prefers to prey on insects of coleopterans, hymenopterans, hemipterans, and lepidopterans (Zou et al, 2012; Wu et al, 2020). Since the 1970s, it has been used to control many agricultural and forestry pests in China (Chai et al, 2000; David and Zheng, 2002; Gao et al, 2011; Zou et al, 2012). Egg cannibalism is a very common behavior in nature (Fox, 1975; Polis, 1981), but it is unfavorable in large-scale breeding as it increases breeding costs and reduces biocontrol efficiency (Kuriwada et al, 2013). In China, Arma custos (Hemiptera: Asopinae) has been widely used as a natural enemy to control agricultural and forestry pests. Clarifying the mechanisms involved in egg cannibalism by A. custos improves our understanding of the evolutionary relationships to enable more efficient mass rearing and biological control systems
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