Coccinellidae, Latreille, 1807

Dayoub, Ahmad Malek, Dib, Hazem & Boubou, Angham, 2020, First record of two insects preying on the red tomato spider mite Tetranychus evansi (Acari: Tetranychidae) in Latakia governorate, Syria, Acarologia 60 (4), pp. 872-877 : 874

Coccinellidae )

All life stages of S. gilvifrons were found in association with T. evansi colonies on tomato and black nightshade in half of the collected samples ( Table 1). Both adults and larvae were observed preying on all developmental stages of T. evansi ( Fig. 1 ). This is the first record of T. evansi as a prey of S. gilvifrons anywhere in the world. This predator is widely distributed in the Middle East and Southern Europe and has been reported to be an effective biocontrol agent of several spider mite species ( Biddinger et al. 2009 ; Perumalsamy et al. 2010). In Syria, S. gilvifrons has been recorded in association with many tetranychid species in several habitats and was considered an effective predator of the red spider mite, T. urticae and the citrus red mite Panonychus citri (McGregor) (Abou­fakhr hammad 2008; Mofleh 2010 ; Barbar et al. 2016).

Many Stethorus species were found associated with T. evansi on solanaceous plants in native and invaded areas ( Table 2). Among these species, the tropical coccinellid, S. tridens Gordon was the only species evaluated under laboratory conditions and considered as a promising agent for the control of T. evansi ( Fiaboe et al. 2007b ; Britto et al. 2009).

Figures

Figure 1 Life stages ofStethorus gilvifrons feeding on all developmental stages ofTetranychus evansi: A – Larva feeding on adult; B – Pupa; C – Adult feeding on eggs; D – Adult feeding on nymph.