title: Prey preference and life tables of the predatory mite Parasitus bituberosus (Acari: Parasitidae) when offered various prey combinations.
abstract: Parasitus bituberosus Karg (Acari: Parasitidae) is one of the predatory mite species inhabiting mushroom houses. It is known to accept a wide range of prey, suggesting that it may be a promising candidate for the biological control of key pests of mushroom culture. In our study it did not show any prey preference among four groups of small organisms often occurring in mushroom growth medium, namely rhabditid nematodes, pygmephorid mites, and sciarid and phorid fly larvae. Nevertheless, the type of food these predators fed on affects their development. The shortest egg-to-adult development time was obtained on a nematode diet. On a diet of phorid larvae, mite development stopped at the deutonymph stage; none reached adulthood. All other diets sufficed to reach the adult phase. Female fecundity when fed nematodes and sciarid larvae did not differ, but it was much lower when fed pygmephorid mites. Other life table parameters confirmed that pygmephorid mites constituted the worst diet for P. bituberosus. The highest intrinsic rate of population increase (r m = 0.34) was obtained on the nematode diet; when fed sciarid larvae and pygmephorid mites it was 0.25 and 0.14, respectively. Our study provides good reasons to further test P. bituberosus as biocontrol agent of especially sciarid flies and nematodes, especially when the compost is well colonized by mushroom mycelium (which retards nematode growth).
authors: Department of Applied Entomology, Faculty of Horticulture, Biotechnology and Landscape Architecture, Warsaw University of Life Sciences-SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland.
authors: Piotr
authors: P
authors: Szafranek
authors: Mariusz
authors: M
authors: Lewandowski
authors: Marcin
authors: M
authors: Kozak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D005518:Food Preferences; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D008925:Mites / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D011156:Population Density; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D013997:Time Factors
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