Several species of Orius Wolff are used in biological control of thrips in protected cultivations in temperate regions, but some of them show reproductive diapause, compromising the efficiency of these agents of biological control. There are no reports on the biology of the neotropical species Orius thyestes Herring under different environmental conditions. The purpose of this work was to inves...

The control of agricultural pests is an important ecosystem service provided by predacious insects. In Midwestern USA, areas of remnant tallgrass prairie and prairie restorations may serve as relatively undisturbed sources of natural predators, and smaller areas of non-crop habitats such as seminatural areas and conservation plantings (CP) may serve as stepping stones across landscapes dominate...

We compared predation of Orius insidiosus (Say) on adult and second instars of Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) andon adults ofF. occidentalis andF. tritici (Fitch) in arenaswith pepper ßowers. Also, we compared the dispersal of these thrips in the presence and absence of the predator. For each experiment, two densities of thrips (10 and 20 total thrips) and two time exposures (10 and 34 h...

The minute pirate bugs, Orius insidiosus (Say) and Orius pumilio (Champion) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Anthocoridae), are closely related species known to be sympatric in north Florida. Here, male and female genitalia, DNA sequences, and the effects of within- and between-species pairings on egg production and egg development were examined to develop a better understanding of the relationship bet...

Commercial shipments of Orius spp. (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) commonly include water and protein, the latter typically supplied by eggs from a moth such as Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller). To determine whether modified dietary conditions might improve predation, newly eclosed adult female Orius pumilio (Champion) were fed on E. kuehniella eggs plus encapsulated water, encapsulated 5% sucrose soluti...

Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae) is a major pest of potato, (Solanum tuberosum L.), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), and peppers (Capsicum spp.). The purpose of our research was to identify and determine the impact of natural enemies on B. cockerelli population dynamics. Through 2 yr of field studies (2009-2010) at four different sites and laboratory feeding tests, we ident...

Conservation plantings of native wildflowers were established adjacent to highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) fields to test the hypothesis that provision of resources for natural enemies increases their abundance in adjacent crop fields without increasing the abundance of pest insects. For two growing seasons, natural enemies and herbivorous insects were sampled in fields with flower...