Do Flight Tests best Predict

Quality of Predators

and Parasitoids?

Vanda H. P. Bueno

Federal University of Lavras (UFLA)

vhpbueno@den.ufla.br

≥ 250 species of arthropod natural enemies reared

wordwide

Need to check effect of (1) Mass Rearing and (2) Storage - on

Performance of Released Natural Enemies: Quality Control

The International Organization for Biological Control

(IOBC) developed Quality Control guidelines for mass

produced natural enemies

Quantity

Sex ratio

Emergence - survival

Fecundity

Longevity

Parasitism/Predation

Adult size

The International Organization for Biological Control

(IOBC) developed Quality Control Guidelines for Mass

Produced natural enemies

Quantity

Sex ratio

Emergence - survival

Fecundity

Longevity

Parasitism/Predation

Adult size

Sometimes Flight,

but very important,

shows if they can fly to

a patch with host/prey

Two exemples:

Mirideos predadores

Aphid parasitoid: Praon volucre

Praon volucre

• Introduced in Brazil;

• Important parasitoid of aphids from

tribe Macrosiphini

Evaluate the cold storage of P. volucre in Macrosiphum euphorbiae - 5°C and 4 periods

(5, 10, 15 and 20 days)

Praon volucre

• 5 days at 5°C without any loss of quality in their biological

parameters (% emergence, longevity, fecundity (number of

oocytes), sex ratio and flight capacity;

• Up to 10 days at 5°C with some loss of quality (lower flight

activity, lower % emergence of progeny, slight male biased sex

ratio;

After storage

Campyloneuropsis

infumatus

Engytatus varians

Macrolophus

basicornis

For biological pest control – e.g. Tuta absoluta - in tomato in Brazil,

we collected, evaluated and reared mirid predators

Mass Rearing of the Mirid Predators

Nicotiana tabacum as

oviposition substrate

E. kuehniellla eggs

as food

Quality Control

of mirid adults after

laboratory rearing

and storage

Montes, 2017

Storage at 2 temperatures and 4 periods

C. infumatus

E. varians

M. basicornis

50 ♂/50♀

vermiculite

eggs of

E. kuehniellla

Temperatures: 8 and 12°C

Periods: 2, 4, 8, 12 days

Quality Control Criteria:

Survival, Fecundity,

Longevity and Flight

C. infumatus

E. varians

M. basicornis

Survival, Fecundity and Longevity after storage

+ 1 ♂/1 ♀

For each combination of storage temperature, period and species:

• Survival: 5 containers: easy, count living predators after storage

• Longevity: 30 females and males/species: a lot of work

• Potential fecundity: count oocytes of 30 females; reasonable

amount of work

• Fecundity: count no. eggs laid by 30 females, 15 days: a lot of work

+ E. kuehniellla eggs Nicotiana tabacum

Results

3 x

Most important findings for mirid

predators:

All three mirids are difficult to store;

Only storage for 2 days worked;

Storage at 12°C is better than at 8°C;

The longer stored, the lower survival, fecundity and

longevity and often also flight capacity;

Surprisingly: Surviving Individuals in some tests with

bad survival and short longevity did fly well

Potential and Realized Fecundity

Species n Potential

Fecundity

Oocytes

n Daily

Realized

Fecundity

- 15 days

C. infumatus 30 9,5±0,33

19 10,4±0,22

E. varians 30 9,4±0,36 39 10,3±0,16

(5-19)

M. basicornis 30 9,5±0,33

38 11,7±0,31

(5-22)

Strong Correlation between Potential and Realized

Fecundity

Very Positive Result: no need to measure daily

fecundity in mirids; saves a lot of time in QC work

Strong correlation between Realized Fecundity and

Longevity for all three mirids

Very Positive Result: no need to measure Total

Realized Fecundity; saves a lot of time

Glass Plate with a circle of

glue on the under side

Repellent material

(Talco inerte (CaCO3))

PVC Cylinder

Glass tube (8x2 cm)

Plate of black plastic

20 c

m

5 c

m

10 cm diameter

C. infumatus

E. varians

M. basicornis

Flight test after storage

Adapted from van Lenteren (2003) and Lins Jr. et al., (2013)

For each combination of storage, temperature, period and species:

short range flight test with 100 ♂/100♀

Percentage of flying adults Praon volucre decreased after

storage;

Flight capacity however remains high (66.3%) – even after

20 days of storage)

Results Flight test

Flight tests easy and quick for stored mirids, but

results do not always correlate well with other QC

criteria

Quality Control Guidelines for mass produced and

stored Brazilian mirids

• Survival

• Fecundity: only count oocytes, good

correlation with daily fecundity

• Longevity, good correlation with

total fecundity

• Flight, but need to study relationship

with other criteria

Test conditions Temperature: 24 ± 1ºC

Relative

humidity:

70 ± 10%

Light 12h photophase

Criteria of Quality Control

Potential Fecundity ≥ 8 oocytes/female; a test each 6 months

Longevity ≥ 27 days/female; a test each 6 months

Predation rate ≥ 25 eggs of T. absoluta/female/48h; n=25; a test

each 6 months

Sex ratio ≥ 45% female of M. basicornis; n=100; sazonal test

Flight activity ≥ 40% of individuals of M. basicornis; flying after 2h

Proposal of tests for Quality Control for M. basicornis based in

criteria stablished by IOBC :

Espaço reservado para: LOGOMARCAS

Acknowledgments