Predation by Nesidiocoris tenuis on Bemisia tabaci and injury to tomato

By J. Calvo, K. Bolckmans, P. Stansly, A. Urbaneja. BioControl (Dordrecht), 2009

205 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Tomato is the most important vegetable crop in Spain. The mirid bug Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter) commonly appears in large numbers in protected and open-air tomato crops where little or no broad-spectrum insecticides are used. Nesidiocoris tenuis is known to be a predator of whiteflies, thrips and several other pest species. However, it is also considered a pest because it can feed on tomato plants, causing necrotic rings on stems and flowers and punctures in fruits. Our objectives were to evaluate predation by N. tenuis on sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci Gennadius under greenhouse conditions and establish its relationship to N. tenuis feeding on tomato. Two different release rates of N. tenuis were compared with an untreated control (0, 1 and 4 N. tenuis plant−1) in cages of 8 m2. Significant reductions of greater than 90% of the whitefly population and correspondingly high numbers of N. tenuis were observed with both release rates. Regression analysis showed that necrotic rings on foliage caused by N. tenuis were best explained by the ratio of B. tabaci nymphs:N. tenuis as predicted by the equation y = 15.086x − 0.6359.

Subfields: Insect Science

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Citations in the corpus

The combined use of Bacillus thuringiensis and Nesidiocoris tenuis against the tomato borer Tuta absoluta (2011, background): “…of plant feeding by N. tenuis on tomato crops under Mediterranean conditions has been addressed by several authors (Sanchez and Lacasa 2008; Calvo et al. 2009; Sanchez 2009; Arnó et al. 2010), who concluded that damage caused by this mirid on tomato plants was directly related to the…”
Defensive plant responses induced by Nesidiocoris tenuis (Hemiptera: Miridae) on tomato plants (2015, background): “Remarkably, N. tenuis was formerly considered a tomato pest because of feeding-based damage such as necrotic rings in apical stems (Raman and Sanjayan 1984; Calvo et al. 2009) when prey is scarce.”
Life history parameters for Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter) (Het., Miridae) under different temperature regimes (2009, background): “Nesidiocoris tenuis is one of the most controversial dicyphine species, mainly because its role as predator or pest has not been clarified completely (Vacante and Garzia 1994; Arnó et al. 2006; Sanchez et al. 2006; Trottin-Caudal et al. 2006; Calvo et al. 2008).”
The Zoophytophagous Predator Nesidiocoris tenuis: A Successful But Controversial Biocontrol Agent in Tomato Crops (2016, background): “The intensity of injury to tomato crops has been observed to decrease with the availability of prey (Arnó et al. 2010; Calvo et al. 2009).”
Efficacy of sulphur on Tuta absoluta and its side effects on the predator Nesidiocoris tenuis (2012, background): “However, if pest control strategies are based on inoculative releases of N. tenuis (Calvo et al. 2009; Mollá et al. 2011), our results on the side effects suggest that sprinkling sulphur DP must be terminated at least 7 days before releasing the predator.”
Preplant release of Nesidiocoris tenuis and supplementary tactics for control of Tuta absoluta and Bemisa tabaci in greenhouse tomato (2012, background): “Nesidiocoris tenuis is known as an effective natural enemy of whitefly (Sánchez & Lacasa, 2008; Calvo et al., 2009) and more recently as potential biological control agent of T. absoluta (Urbaneja et al., 2009).”
Benefits and risks of exotic biological control agents (2011, unknown): “evidence on its potential to cause economic losses (Calvo et al. 2009; Perdikis et al. 2009; Sanchez 2008, 2009; Arnó et al. 2010).”