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Development and survival of nymphs of Podisus nigrispinus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) fed with caterpillars of Chlosyne lacinia saundersii (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

Abstract

The development and survival of Podisus nigrispinus (Dallas) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) nymphs fed on larvae of Chlosyne lacinia saundersii Doubleday & Hewitson (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) was studied at 25 ± 1ºC, 68 ± 10% relative humidity and 12 h photo phase. P. nigrispinus developed until the adult stage when fed on C. lacinia saundersii caterpillars. However, the survival rate of P. nigrispinus during early instars allowed this predator to complement its diet with other preys and to maintain its populations in areas with the sunflower culture.

Hemiptera; Lepidoptera; Helianthus annuus; predator


BIOLOGICAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES

Development and survival of nymphs of Podisus nigrispinus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) fed with caterpillars of Chlosyne lacinia saundersii (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

Carlos Alberto Domingues da SilvaI, II; Teresinha Vinha ZanuncioI; Bruno Gomes CunhaI; Ancidériton Antonio de CastroI; Glauco da Cruz CanevariI; José Eduardo SerrãoIII; José Cola ZanuncioI, * * Author for correspondence: zanuncio@ufv.br

IDepartamento de Biologia Animal; Universidade Federal de Viçosa; 36571-000; Viçosa - MG - Brasil

IIEmpresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária; Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Algodão; C.P.: 174; 58107-720; Campina Grande - PB - Brasil

IIIDepartamento de Biologia Geral; Universidade Federal de Viçosa; 36571-000; Viçosa - MG - Brasil

ABSTRACT

The development and survival of Podisus nigrispinus (Dallas) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) nymphs fed on larvae of Chlosyne lacinia saundersii Doubleday & Hewitson (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) was studied at 25 ± 1ºC, 68 ± 10% relative humidity and 12 h photo phase. P. nigrispinus developed until the adult stage when fed on C. lacinia saundersii caterpillars. However, the survival rate of P. nigrispinus during early instars allowed this predator to complement its diet with other preys and to maintain its populations in areas with the sunflower culture.

Key words: Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Helianthus annuus, predator

INTRODUCTION

The sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is cultivated in many regions of the world in about 18 million hectares (Camargo and Amabile, 2001). The increasing area with this culture in Brazil can be explained by the fact that it represents an alternative to corn and presents 20 to 25% lower production costs. On the other hand, the large area cultivated may favor the increase and diversity of insect pest populations. Chlosyne lacinia saundersii Doubleday and Hewitson, 1849 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) is considered the most important pest of sunflower (Vendramin and Boiça Jr., 1994) because it causes intense defoliation on this plant (Nakano et al., 1981) what can make unfeasible the production of this culture (Camargo and Amabile, 2001).

The biological control of C. lacinia saundersii with predatory Pentatomidae can represent an economic and ecological viable alternative. This is reinforced by the fact that these natural enemies are found in agricultural and forest areas as important agents of biological control (De Clercq and Degheele, 1992; Molina-Rugama et al., 1997; Zanuncio et al., 2000). These predators can feed on many pests mainly Lepidoptera and Coleoptera orders and alternative prey (Medeiros et al., 2003; Torres et al., 2002) but also on plants (Zanuncio et al., 2000; Zanuncio et al., 2006) with alternative prey (Zanuncio et al., 2001). Podisus sagitta (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) was reported preying caterpillar of C. lacinia in plantations of sunflower in Venezuela (Arnal and Ramos, 1990) while the predator Alcaeorrhynchus grandis (Dallas) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) was found feeding on this prey in the State of Paraná, Brazil (Malaguido and Panizzi, 1998).

Considering the importance of C. lacinia saundersii for the sunflower culture and the reduced number of information on predators of this pest, the objective of this research was to study the development and the survival of nymphs of P. nigrispinus fed on caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This work was carried out at the Laboratory of Biological Control of Insects/BIOAGRO of the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) in Viçosa, of Minas Gerais State, Brazil at 25 ± 1ºC, 68 ± 10% relative humidity and 12 hours photo phase (Lemos et al., 2006).

Caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii were collected in a sunflower plantation in the Federal University of Viçosa and the eggs of the predator P. nigrispinus were obtained from a colony of the Laboratory of the Biological Control of Insects at the UFV.

Two hundred eggs of P. nigrispinus were collected and transferred to a Petri dish (12.0 x 1.2 cm) with a cotton moist ball fixed to the internal part of its covers (Ramalho et al., 2008). A total of 120 first instars nymphs of this predator were transferred to 12 Petri dishes with 10 nymphs inside each one. Second instars nymphs were fed on first or second instar caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii which were changed every 48 hours.

The duration and survival of each instar, the weight of adults and the sex ratio of P. nigrispinus were recorded. This predator was sexed based on its external genitalia (Grazia, 1986). Differences on the duration of each instar of this predator that originated males or females were compared by the test "t."

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The survival of the nymph stage of P. nigrispinus fed on C. lacinia saundersii varied from 23.3 to 90.0% with lower value in the fifth (Table 1). No significant interactions were found between instar x sex (F= 1.58; d.f.= 4; P> 0.1814). The duration of the immature stages of P. nigrispinus was affected by instar (F= 44.97; d.f= 4; P< 0.0001) and predator sex (F= 3.88; d.f= 1; P< 0.05), especially in the fifth one (Table 1).

The duration of first instar of P. nigrispinus with water was similar to that of this predator with this diet (Lemos et al., 2003; Zanuncio et al., 1990; Zamperline et al., 1992). This could be explained by the fact that nymphs of predatory Pentatomidae did not prey during the first instar (Molina-Rugama et al., 1998). Therefore, the duration and survival of this instar of P. nigrispinus was not influenced by the prey.

The duration of the second instar of P. nigrispinus with caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii was longer than that of this predator fed on third or fifth instar caterpillars of A. argillacea (Lemos et al., 2003), larvae of B. mori (Zanuncio et al., 1990) or larvae of T. molitor (Zamperline et al., 1992; Lemos et al., 2003). However, the duration of the nymph stage of P. nigrispinus presented higher values for the nymph stage than when fed on third instar larvae of Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) (Zanuncio et al., 1990; Lemos et al. 2003). The duration of the other instars of this predator was shorter with caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii than with those of third or fifth instar A. argillacea (Lemos et al., 2003), third instar larvae M. domestica (Zanuncio et al., 1990; Lemos et al. 2003), caterpillars of B. mori (Zanuncio et al., 1990) or larvae of T. molitor (Zamperline et al., 1992; Lemos et al., 2003). Caterpillars exhibit a wide variety of behavior, morphology and physiology differences what can difficult to separate those that have defense function against many vertebrate, invertebrate, and microbial enemies (Gentry and Dyer, 2002). Lepidoptera larvae use morphological traits, such as scoli, spines and hairs to reduce predation (Frost, 1959). For this reason, the longer duration of the second instar of P. nigrispinus fed with caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii than those fed with others prey without spines, as third or fifth instars caterpillars of A. argillacea (Lemos et al., 2003), larvae of B. mori (Zanuncio et al., 1990) or larvae of T. molitor (Zamperline et al., 1992; Lemos et al. 2003) was not related to the low nutritional quality of C. lacinia saundersii. This might be due to the biggest mechanical effect of the spines on the surface of the integument of this prey that could hinder feeding of P. nigrispinus nymphs.This was also shown for nymphs of A. grandis that did not reach the adult stage when fed on first or second instars caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii (Malaguido and Panizzi, 1998). This could be explained by the fact that nymphs of more advanced instars of P. nigrispinus, fed with caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii were less affected by spines of this prey with spines, and therefore, presented shorter duration than with other prey without spines.

The survival of P. nigrispinus in the fifth instar was lower than values above 80% of nymphs of this predator with third or fifth instars caterpillars of A. argillacea or larvae of T. molitor or M. domestica (Lemos et al., 2003). This lower survival and longer duration of the fifth instar P. nigrispinus with caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii could also be attributed to the mechanical effect of the spines on the surface of the integument of this prey that could hinder the feeding of P. nigrispinus nymphs. However, the total of 32.5% of the nymphs of this predator reached the adult stage with caterpillars of A. gemmatalis. This demonstrated that differences on survival rates of A. grandis could be attributed to the feeding difficulty due to the presence of spines in the surface of the body of C. lacinia saundersii caterpillars (Malaguido and Panizzi, 1998).

The weight of newly-emerged males and females P. nigrispinus fed on C. lacinia saundersii (Fig. 1) was lower than that of this predator which nymphs fed on third or fifth instars A. argillacea (Lemos et al., 2003), third instar larvae of M. domestica (Zanuncio et al., 1990; Lemos et al., 2003), larvae of B. mori (Zanuncio et al., 1990) or larvae of T. molitor (Zamperline et al., 1992; Lemos et al., 2003). The low weight of P. nigrispinus females fed on C. lacinia saundersii confirmed the lower nutritional quality of caterpillars of this prey for this predator.


The sex rate of P. nigrispinus was 0.65 what showed higher number of females than adults. The sex ratio of Asopinae could be changed under unfavorable conditions of temperature and/or food shortage such as reported for the predominance of males of P. maculiventris in the laboratory during periods of prey shortage (Mukerji and Leroux, 1965). Thus, the predominance of females of P. nigrispinus indicated that the feeding difficulty due to the presence of spines in the integument of C. lacinia saundersii was not sufficient to affect the sex rate of P. nigrispinus.

Podisus nigrispinus developed and survived until the adult stage feeding on first or second instar caterpillars of C. lacinia saundersii although this prey seemed less adequate for this predator. However, the survival rate of P. nigrispinus during early instars could allow this predator to complement its feeding on other preys and to maintain its populations in areas with the sunflower culture.

ACKNOWLEDEGEMENTS

We thank the Brazilian agencies "Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG)" for funding.

SUMMARY

The nymph development and survival of Podisus nigrispinus (Dallas) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) fed with larvae of Chlosyne lacinia saundersii Doubleday and Hewitson (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) were studied at 25 ± 1ºC, relative humidity of 68 ± 10% and photo phase of 12 hours. Podisus nigrispinus can develop and survive until the adult stage feeding on caterpillars of first or second instars of C. lacinia saundersii, although that prey is less appropriate for that predator. However, the survival of P. nigrispinus during the initial instars can allow this predator to complement its diet feeding with another prey and maintain its population in areas planted with sunflower.

Received: April 25, 2006;

Revised: August 21, 2007;

Accepted: August 28, 2008.

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  • *
    Author for correspondence:
  • Publication Dates

    • Publication in this collection
      20 Mar 2009
    • Date of issue
      Feb 2009

    History

    • Accepted
      28 Aug 2008
    • Reviewed
      21 Aug 2007
    • Received
      25 Apr 2006
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