The brown lacewing Micromus angulatus: A new predator for the augmentative biological control of aphids

Abstract

Aphids are notorious pests that pose significant challenges for their management in many economically important crops. While various predators and parasitoids are available for the augmentative biological control of aphids, there is a need to develop new species with unique characteristics that can be integrated into existing biological control programs. Micromus angulatus (Neuroptera: Hemerobiidae) is a brown lacewing with great potential for the biological control of aphids. Unlike the green lacewings used currently in biological control, both the larvae and adults of M. angulatus are predatory. In this greenhouse study, we compared M. angulatus to the well-established species Chrysoperla carnea as predators of Myzus persicae in sweet pepper and Chaetosiphon fragaefolii in strawberry. In sweet pepper, releases of M. angulatus eggs, C. carnea eggs or M. angulatus adults led to aphid reductions of 99.6%, 90.5%, and 87.1%, respectively, compared to the control. In another experiment in sweet pepper, preventative releases of M. angulatus adults (i.e., two days before the plants were infested with aphids) resulted in aphid numbers reduced by 98.8%. In strawberry, aphid numbers were reduced by 97.4%, 85.2%, and 60.3% in the C. carnea eggs, M. angulatus eggs, and M. angulatus adults treatments, respectively. Overall, our study highlights the potential of M. angulatus as an effective biological control agent against aphids in sweet pepper and strawberry. Moreover, our results suggest the possibility of releasing M. angulatus adults either preventatively or curatively for the suppression of aphid populations.