Evaluation of Cosmolaelaps brevistilis and Stratiolaelaps scimitus (Mesostigmata: Laelapidae) as natural enemy of Bradysia aff. ocellaris (Diptera: Sciaridae)
2021
Da F. Duarte, Adriane | Duarte, Juliano L. P. | Da Silva, Lucas R. | Gobbi, Priscilla C. | Da Cunha, Uemerson S.
Bradysia species are major insect pests of protected production systems, including strawberry crops in semi-hydroponic systems. In Brazil, its management is difficult due to the absence of available effective pesticides. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predatory efficiency of two species of mites (Stratiolaelaps scimitus and Cosmolaelaps brevistilis) under laboratory conditions. The experiments were conducted at 25 ± 1°C, 75 ± 10% RH, in dark. In the first bioassay predation potential of each mite species, one female per arena, was evaluated on eggs, larvae (2–3 instar) and pupae of B. aff. ocellaris, replicated thirty times, and predation, oviposition, and survivorship were recorded for ten days. In the second bioassay, fly emergence was used to determine control efficacy. Each predator species was assessed at different densities (2, 5, 7 and 10) with ten larvae of B. aff. ocellaris in each experimental unit, replicated eight times. Stratiolaelaps scimitus performed better than C. brevistilis in both bioassays, however, on the eggs and pupae life stages, both species were not effective. On the larvae life stage, mean daily predation rate was 8.25 and 4.45 for S. scimitus and C. brevistilis, respectively. For each predator species no significant differences in fly emergence were found at the four densities, however at all densities S. scimitus provided better control than C. brevistilis. Further studies on potted plants are needed to determine the potential of these species for B. aff. ocellaris management.
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