Water relations of several arthropod predators in the peanut agroecosystem
1988
Mack, T.P. | Appel, A.G. | Backman, C.B. | Trichilo, P.J.
Water content and percentage of total body water (TBW) lost as a function of time was determined for four common predators in the peanut agroecosystem that may feed on the lesser cornstalk borer, Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). TBW loss by Geocoris punctipes (Say) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae), Reduviolus roseipennis Reuter (Hemiptera: Nabidae), and Oxyopes salticus Hentz (Aranae: Oxyopidae) increased linearly with desiccation time, but for workers of Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), it increased as a curvilinear function of desiccation time. Mortality of insects in a 24-h period was 69.4 and 80.6% for nymphal and adult G. punctipes, 16.7 and 58.1% for nymphal and adult R. roseipennis. 100% for S. invicta workers, and 14.7 and 13.0% for nymphal and adult O. salticus. These high moralities suggest that the lesser cornstalk borer is better able to survive xeric conditions than some of its common predators.
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