Mei-Chun Lu*, Han-Yan Ding

Miaoli District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

ABSTRACT

    Lacewing (Mallada basalis) is a generalist predator, widely-distributed in Taiwan. They preferred to prey on aphid (Aphis spp.), spider mite (Tetranychus spp.) as well as whitefly (Bemisia argentifolii). In order to study the prey performance and capacity of lacewing on three different pests, cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii), mustard aphid (Lipaphis erysimi), and two spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae), were fed to lacewing larva and the growth and development of lacewing, predation capacity (including foraging amount, mean daily predation, and mean cumulative predation) were evaluated under laboratory condition. Moreover, lacewing fed on eggs of rice moth (Corcyra cephalonica), an alternative diet, was performed as control treatment. Lacewing fed on two aphids was performed 90-100% pupation, however, two spotted spider mite diet showed a developmental retardation and high mortality during larva stage, only 20% of larva survival and no individual emerged to the adult stage. The accumulative prey capacity per larva was 364.6 for cotton aphid, 179.2 for mustard aphid, and 680, for two spotted spider mite. The mean daily and cumulative predation of lacewing showed variation upon different preys and reached the maximum at 3^rd instar, however, longer predation duration of the two spotted spider mite was observed. The prey capacity of lacewing in this study might provide the information for augmentative biocontrol of lacewing in the field.

Keywords: Mallada basalis, predatory capacity, Aphis gossypii, Lipaphis erysimi, Tetranychus urticae

*Corresponding author email: lumj@mdais.gov.tw