The two-spotted spider mite,
Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), and the onion thrips,
Thrips tabaci Lind. (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), are significant field pests of potato in the Ardabil region of Iran.
Orius niger (Wolf.) and
O. minutus (L.) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) are locally the predominant natural enemies of these pests. This study compared the functional
responses of
O. niger and
O. minutus to female mites and second instar thrips larvae across a range of prey densities (5, 10, 20, and 40 prey/arena) under controlled
conditions of 24 ± 1°C, 50 ± 5% RH and 16:8 h (L:D). The resulting data were appropriately fit to Type II functional response
models in four predator–prey interactions, including: (1)
O. niger to second instar thrips larvae (
a = 0.009 h
−1; and
T
h = 1.62 h); (2)
O. niger to females mites (
a = 0.006 h
−1 and
T
h = 1.28 h); (3)
O. minutus to second instar thrips larvae (
a = 0.008 h
−1 and
T
h = 1.93 h) and (4)
O. minutus to females mites (
a = 0.01 h
−1 and
T
h = 1.1 h). The number of second instar thrips larvae attacked by
O. niger was greater than that by
O. minutus (
P ≤ 0.01); conversely, the number of females mites attacked by
O. minutus was greater than that by
O. niger (
P ≤ 0.01). These results confirm the potential for both
O. niger and
O. minutus to make valuable contributions to a biological control program against onion thrips and the two-spotted spider mites infesting
potato fields in this region.
Keywords Biological control - Functional response -
Orius niger
-
O. minutus
-
Thrips tabaci
-
Tetranychus urticae
Communicated by M. Traugott.