BioOne.org will be down briefly for maintenance on 12 February 2025 between 18:00-21:00 Pacific Time US. We apologize for any inconvenience.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 March 2018 Comparative Effectiveness and Injury to Tomato Plants of Three Neotropical Mirid Predators of Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)
Joop C. van Lenteren, V. H. P. Bueno, F. J. Calvo, Ana M. Calixto, Flavio C. Montes
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick; Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is a key pest of tomato and is quickly spreading over the world. We conducted an experiment aimed at evaluating the control capacity and risk for plant damage of three Neotropical mirid species, Campyloneuropsis infumatus (Carvalho; Hemiptera: Miridae), Engytatus varians (Distant; Hemiptera: Miridae) and Macrolophus basicornis (Stal; Hemiptera: Miridae) on T. absoluta infested tomato plants in large cages in an experimental greenhouse. During three successive periods of 9 wk each, we followed population development of the three mirids when exposed to T. absoluta, and of T. absoluta alone in separate cages in the greenhouse. We determined weekly the numbers of T. absoluta eggs and larvae per leaf, the number of mirid predators per leaf, the percentage of damaged leaves and fruits by T. absoluta, and the weight of fruits. Two of the mirid predators, C. infumatus and M. basicornis, successfully established on T. absoluta infested tomato plants and significantly reduced T. absoluta numbers, which ultimately resulted in an increased yield.These two mirid species hardly injured tomato plants or fruits as a result of plant feeding. Surprisingly, the species E. varians, which showed high predation rates in laboratory experiments, did not establish and reduce pest populations in any of the tests.

© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Joop C. van Lenteren, V. H. P. Bueno, F. J. Calvo, Ana M. Calixto, and Flavio C. Montes "Comparative Effectiveness and Injury to Tomato Plants of Three Neotropical Mirid Predators of Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)," Journal of Economic Entomology 111(3), 1080-1086, (1 March 2018). https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toy057
Received: 18 December 2017; Accepted: 12 February 2018; Published: 1 March 2018
JOURNAL ARTICLE
7 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
biological control
Miridae
tomato borer
zoophytophagy
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top