Tuesday, 19 November 2002 - 10:36 AM
0665

This presentation is part of : Ten-Minute Papers, Subsection Cd. Behavior and Ecology (Session 4)

Spider predation on eggs of lepidopteran pests of field crops

Robert Pfannenstiel, USDA-ARS, 2413 Hwy 83, Weslaco, TX

Spiders have traditionally not been viewed as important predators of lepidopteran eggs. Observations in several crops in 2001 and 2002 indicated that spiders could indeed cause significant mortality to the egg stage of common lepidopteran pests of cotton, soybean and corn such as Helicoverpa zea and Spodoptera exigua. A complex of four nocturnally feeding cursorial spiders were commonly observed feeding on lepidopteran eggs. Spiders observed, in order of frequency were: the anyphaenids, Hibana futilis and Hibana arunda, the miturgid, Cheiracanthium inclusum, and the clubionid, Clubiona kiowa.

Species 1: Lepidoptera Noctuidae Helicoverpa zea (cotton bollworm, corn earworm)
Species 2: Lepidoptera Noctuidae Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm)
Species 3: Araneae Anyphaenidae Hibana futilis (ghost spiders)
Keywords: egg predation, nocturnal predation

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