Prey preference of Orius minutus and its functional response in comparison that of O. laevigatus, on Tetranychus urticae

Abstract

• Orius minutus preferred Frankliniella intonsa the most in choice or no-choice test. • Both O. minutus and O. laevigatus exhibited a Type III response. • O. minutus can be an biocontrol agent of both Tetranychus urticae and F. intonsa. Orius species (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) are generalist predators of small insects, including thrips, mites, aphids, and scales. Here, we evaluated the prey preference of Orius minutus (L.) on five prey species by comparing it with Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) as a standard prey. Among five prey species tested, Frankliniella intonsa (Trybom) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) and Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) were preyed on more than T. urticae by O. minutus in a four hour choice test. In a four hour no-choice test, F. intonsa was the most frequently consumed prey, followed by H. pruni , T. urticae , Amphitetranychus viennensis (Zacher) (Acari: Tetranychidae), Eriococcus sp. (Hemiptera: Eriococcidae), and Stephanitis pyrioides Scott (Hemiptera: Tingidae). The functional response of O. minutus in response to various densities of adult T. urticae on kidney bean leaf was compared with that of the commercialized species Orius laevigatus (Fieber). Different numbers of adult T. urticae (5, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 120) were offered to females of both predators for 24 h in a controlled environment of 25.0 ± 0.5 °C, 71.2 ± 5.0% RH, and a 16: 8 h (L: D) photoperiod. Both O. minutus and O. laevigatus exhibited a Type III response according to a logistic regression model. Despite the similar attack rate or handling time found between the two species, predation rate was higher on O. minutus than on O. laevigatus . These results indicate that O. minutus could also play an important role in the biological control of T. urticae as well as F. intonsa and H. pruni .