Doru luteipes (Dermaptera: Forficulidae) and Orius insidiosus (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) as Nocturnal and Diurnal Predators of Thrips

Abstract

Thrips (Thysanoptera, Thripidae) are pests of several crops and their chemical control is mainly hindered by their thigmotactic habits, which in turn allows the use of biological control agents with similar habits. Orius (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) are effective control agents for thrips and are commercialized in many countries. Habitat overlap exists between Doru luteipes (Scudder) (Dermaptera: Forficulidae) and thrips, making D. luteipes a potential predator in the control of these insects. Our goals were to confirm the predatory ability of D. luteipes when exposed to thrips, Caliothrips phaseoli (Hood), and to evaluate the interaction between D. luteipes and Orius insidiosus Say for the control of thrips using behavioral and feeding preference tests. The ability of D. luteipes and O. insidiosus to prey on thrips at all stages was tested by predation bioassays; adults of D. luteipes consumed 210.9 ± 23.2 thrips per day, while adults of O. insidiosus consumed 32.4 ± 3.6 thrips per day. Intraguild predation was absent, and the predatory behavior feeding of the two predatory species was not altered in the presence of the other predator. In addition, these predators forage at different times–O. insidiosus during the day and D. luteipes at night, indicating that both predators do not interact negatively, allowing the use of both in a biological pest control program for thrips.