Agistemus exsertus 1 as a Predator of Two Tetranychid Mites

Abstract

Eggs of Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval) and Eutetranychus orientalis (Klein) were found to be preferred above postembryonic stages as food by Agistemus exsertus Gonzalez (Acarina: Stigmaeidae). The predator showed an obvious tendency to puncture most tetranychid eggs confined with it, not necessarily sucking their contents completely. In feeding, the predator attacked all developmental stages of the 2 tetranychid hosts. However, a greater capability was shown for destroying eggs and postembryonic stages of T. cinnabarinus than of E. orientalis. Numbers of eggs consumed by female and male A. exsertus during their life span, from the 2 prey species, reached 566 and 217, and 400 and 132, respectively. Postembryonic stages destroyed were 167 and 52, and 78 and 34, respectively.