Functional response and egg production of a native Typhlodromus recki Wainstein, 1958 (Acari: Phytoseiidae) population to Tetranychus urticae Koch, 1836 (Acari: Tetranychidae)1

Abstract

In this study, which was conducted to determine predation potential of Typhlodromus recki Wainstein, 1958 (Acari: Phytoseiidae) at Ege University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection in 2018-2019. Functional response and egg production of the predatory mite, T. recki fed on different biological stages (egg, larva, protonymph, deutonymph and adult male) of the two-spotted spider mite (green form), Tetranychus urticae Koch, 1836 (Acari: Tetranychidae) were studied under laboratory conditions (25±1°C, 60±10% RH and 16:8 h L:D photoperiod). In the experiments, seven prey densities (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128) for each biological stage of the prey were offered daily to the predatory mite. The results of logistic regression analysis indicated that T. recki had a Type II functional response on each developmental stage of its prey according to Holling’s models. The attack rate (α) and the handling time (Th) varied based on the biological stages of the prey. The highest α and the lowest Th values were determined as 1.035 and 0.001 when the predator fed on larvae and eggs of its prey, respectively. The highest average daily mean number of the eggs consumed by T. recki was 111 at 128 prey densities. The highest average daily mean number of eggs deposited by the predator were found to be 1.05 when it fed on the eight-prey density of T. urticae protonymphs. In addition, the lowest average daily mean number of eggs deposited by the predator was 0.15 when fed on the two-prey density with T. urticae adult males. The study indicates that T. recki could be effective and promising biological control agent for T. urticae.