Functional response of the predator Eriopis connexa (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) to different prey types

• Autor(a) principal: Sarmento,Renato Almeida
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Pallini,Angelo, Venzon,Madelaine, Souza,Og Francisco Fonseca de, Molina-Rugama,Adrián José, Oliveira,Claudinei Lima de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132007000100014
• topic: Biological control; coccinellids; aphids; mites; Lycopersicon esculentum Mill

This work evaluated the functional response of adult females of Eriopis connexa to different densities of Macrosiphum euphorbiae and Tetranychus evansi. When preying upon aphids, E. connexa presented a sigmoidal functional response (Type III). This behavior, however, changed drastically to an exponential (Type II) functional response, when mites (T. evansi), rather than aphids, were offered to E. connexa. Such different patterns showed that this coccinellid needed to adopt distinct strategies according to the kind of prey available. Since predators were believed to be able to regulate prey populations only when adopting Type III functional response. E. connexa would be a good candidate for a biological control agent of M. euphorbiae, but would not suppress a growing population of T. evansi.