Abstract

On three occasions in late August 1985, during the course of a study of the arthropod community associated with collards (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) (Cruciferae) in central New York State, two species of predaceous Heteroptera, the spined soldier bug, Podisus maculiventris (Say), and Nabicula americolimbata (Carayon), were observed feeding on adult flea beetles of the genus Phyllotreta. Evidence for predation on adult flea beetles is rare. Tahvanainen and Root (1972) and Kareiva (1985) reported practically no predation on adult Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze) in central New York, but scattered observations in Canada have documented occasional attacks on adult crucifer-infesting flea beetles by various insect predators (Gerber and Osgood 1975; Burgess 1977, 1980, 1982). This is the first record of predation on adult flea beetles by P. muculiventris and N. americolimbata. Burgess (1982) noted predation on adult P. cruciferae by another nabid, Nabis alternatus Parshley.

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