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Effect of Sex, Age and Temperature on the Functional Response of Macrolophus pygmaeus Ramber and Nesidiocoris tenuis Reuter (Heteroptera: Miridae), on Eggs of Tuta absoluta
Version 1
: Received: 15 April 2024 / Approved: 17 April 2024 / Online: 17 April 2024 (11:57:43 CEST)
How to cite:
Yiacoumi, E.; Kouloussis, N.A.; Koveos, D.S. Effect of Sex, Age and Temperature on the Functional Response of Macrolophus pygmaeus Ramber and Nesidiocoris tenuis Reuter (Heteroptera: Miridae), on Eggs of Tuta absoluta. Preprints2024, 2024041112. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1112.v1
Yiacoumi, E.; Kouloussis, N.A.; Koveos, D.S. Effect of Sex, Age and Temperature on the Functional Response of Macrolophus pygmaeus Ramber and Nesidiocoris tenuis Reuter (Heteroptera: Miridae), on Eggs of Tuta absoluta. Preprints 2024, 2024041112. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1112.v1
Yiacoumi, E.; Kouloussis, N.A.; Koveos, D.S. Effect of Sex, Age and Temperature on the Functional Response of Macrolophus pygmaeus Ramber and Nesidiocoris tenuis Reuter (Heteroptera: Miridae), on Eggs of Tuta absoluta. Preprints2024, 2024041112. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1112.v1
APA Style
Yiacoumi, E., Kouloussis, N.A., & Koveos, D.S. (2024). Effect of Sex, Age and Temperature on the Functional Response of <em>Macrolophus pygmaeus</em> Ramber and <em>Nesidiocoris tenuis</em> Reuter (Heteroptera: Miridae), on Eggs of <em>Tuta absoluta</em>. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1112.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Yiacoumi, E., Nikos A. Kouloussis and Dimitrios S. Koveos. 2024 "Effect of Sex, Age and Temperature on the Functional Response of <em>Macrolophus pygmaeus</em> Ramber and <em>Nesidiocoris tenuis</em> Reuter (Heteroptera: Miridae), on Eggs of <em>Tuta absoluta</em>" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1112.v1
Abstract
The predatory mirids Macrolophus pygmaeus Ramber and Nesidiocoris tenuis Reuter (Heteroptera: Miridae) are used for the biological control of Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lep.: Gelechiidae) and other pests in tomato greenhouses. The functional response of 1 (young) and 10 (old) days old adult females and males of M. pygmaeus and N. tenuis on eggs of T. absoluta, was determined on tomato at two temperatures (20° and 25°C) and LD 16:8 and found to be Type II. M. pygmaeus females exhibited higher predation efficiency, than males at both tested temperatures. Young M. pygmaeus females had a higher efficiency than old ones, whereas males had a low efficiency irrespective of age. The predation efficiency of N. tenuis was high (but lower than M. pygmaeus) in both young females and males, although old females had a higher efficiency than the respective males. Our results show that the two predatory species have different functional response characteristics to their prey depending mainly on sex and age which may affect their role as biological control agents.
Keywords
M. pygmaeus; N. tenuis; Miridae; T.absoluta; functional response; tomato; sex; adult age; temperature; predator
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Insect Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
