title: Investigation on some biological aspects of Chrysoperla lucasina (Chrysopidae: Neuroptera) on Bemisia tabaci in laboratory conditions.
abstract: Bemisia tabaci is one of the most important key pests of many types of cultivated plants. Lacewings (Chrysopidae: Neuroptera) are predatory insects, widely used in biological control programs. Between them green lacewing is a promising biological control agent of pests in green houses and crop fields. In this study, gravid females of the green lacewing Chrysoperla lucasina (Lacroix) were captured from Sarepolzahab ( altitude 540m, latitude 34 degrees ,14' N 46 degrees, 9' E) in western part of Iran. Collected insects were reared in a growth chamber, under experimental conditions (25 +/- 1 degrees C, 70 +/- 5% RH and a photoperiod of 16:8 L: D). Different diets were offered to larvae which consisted of a whitefly species B. tabaci, an aphid Myzus persica and also lyophilized powder of drone honeybee (Apis melifera). As different foods were used to nurish larvae, so for each diet, mean larval period were calculated, and finally means were compared to each other. Anova in MSTAT-C was used for analysis of variance, and Duncan multiple range test (DMRT) to compare between means. The results showed that larvae had maximum duration of 27 +/- 0.33 days when fed on honeybee lyophilized powder and the minimum value was 17.9 +/- 0.3 days for B. tabaci. 25 +/- 0.27 day recorded for M. persicae. Food preference of the 3rd instar larvae of green lacewing was surveyed, they showed a food preference to M. persicae, to compare with B. tabaci, as the former has a bigger body size, so more easily to be captured by the predator larvae. The 3rd instar larvae of lacewing were more voracious on preys, than the 1st or the 2nd instar larvae. Statistically speaking, there were a significantly difference when mean of different preys consumed by predator larvae were compared. We found, that when the predator larvae have fed on B. tabaci, their development time was shorter, and when arrived to adult stage, the adults showed, an improved fertility. The results indicated that the suitable prey not only can increase the rate of through accelerating developmental stages of the predator and by means of an increase in its pupal body weight consequently promoting the fecundity of resulting adults, but also can alter predators population density in relation to own production numbers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Science, Payame Noor University, PO Box 19395-3697, Tehran, Iran. mbaghdadius@yahoo.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baghdadi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sharifi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mirmoayedi
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000254:growth & development; D007313:Insecta / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D007492:Iran; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D011156:Population Density; D011235:Predatory Behavior