The citrus red mite, Panonychus citri Koch (Tetranychidae) was evaluated in the laboratory for their acceptability as prey for four coccinellid species: Cycloneda sanguinea L., Exochomus childreni Mulsant, Harmonia axyridis Pallas, and Olla v-nigrum Mulsant. Also, three predacious mite species, Euseius mesembrinus (Dean), Iphiseodes quadripilis (Banks) and Amblyseius sp. (Phytoseidae) were evaluated in the laboratory for their acceptability as prey for H. axyridis. Adult females and early larval stages of C. sanguinea, E. childreni, H. axyridis , and Olla v-nigrum, readily consumed adult females of P. citri when these were presented on leaf disks in Petri dish arenas. The most voracious mite predator was H. axyridis. Adult female H. axyridis consumed an average of 15.14 ± 1.9 adult female P. citri in 24 h, and 1st instar larvae consumed 6.1 ± 0.7 in 60 min. First instar larvae H. axyridis consumed one or two adult Amblyseius sp. in three out of eight trials and a single E. mesembrinus female. No I. quadripilis females were eaten by H. axyridis larvae. Adults female H. axyridis did not consumed adult female phytoseiids of any species under similar conditions. If predacious phytoseiids are generally unacceptable as prey for coccinellids while P. citri is selectively consumed, then coccinellid predation would likely have a net beneficial effect in contributing to suppression of tetranychid mite populations in citrus.
Species 1: Acari Tetranychidae Panonychus citri (Citrus red mite)
Species 2: Acari Phytoseiidae Iphiseiodes quadripilis (Shiny buttom mite)
Species 3: Coleoptera Coccinellidae Harmonia axyridis (Multicolored Asian lady beetle)
Keywords: Euseius mesembrinus, Cycloneda sanguinea
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