The cultivation of tropical fruit trees has grown considerably in the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil. Some of these have been severely attacked by phytophagous mites, which are usually controlled by the use of chemical pesticides. However, there is today a growing interest for the adoption of less aggressive measures of pest control, as for example the use of predatory mites. Most of the p...

The ability of predatory mites to endure starvation or low humidity is very important for them to maintain their populations in unfavorable environments. The effects of starvation and humidity on the development and survival of Amblyseius (Typhlodromips) swirskii, Amblyseius eharai and Agistemus exsertus were studied in the laboratory. The results showed that most eggs of A. eharai and A. exser...

We studied developmental plasticity under food stress in three female-biased size dimorphic predatory mite species, Phytoseiulus persimilis, Neoseiulus californicus, and Amblyseius andersoni. All three species prey on two-spotted spider mites but differ in the degree of adaptation to this prey. Phytoseiulus persimilis is a specialized spider mite predator, N. californicus is a generalist with a...

Amblyseius orientalis (Ehara) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) is a native predatory mite species in China. It used to be considered as a specialist predator of spider mites. However, recent studies show it also preys on other small arthropod pests, such as Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). Experiments were conducted to investigate (1) prey preference of A. orientalis between Tetranychu...

Abstract The aim of the present study was to conduct a survey mites family Phytoseiidae associated with plants natural vegetation and cultivated forests in sites three biomes (Amazon Forest, Cerrado Pantanal) Mato Grosso State. Twenty-one species 11 genera, phytoseiid subfamilies were registered. Amblyseius Berlese most diverse genus, five species. Iphiseiodes zuluagai Denmark & Muma common spe...

Western flower thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), is an important pest of vegetable crops worldwide and has developed resistance to many insecticides. The predatory mites Neoseiulus (=Amblyseius) cucumeris (Oudemans), the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.), and an insecticide (imidacloprid) were tested for their efficacy to reduce WFT population density a...

Phytoseiid mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae) have been largely used for the biological control of arthropod pests. However, information on phytoseiid fauna associated with plants Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil is still scanty. Surveys were carried out in two areas Atlantic Forest State – Jaguanum island and Paraty. We report 11 species seven genera from all three subfamilies. A complementary re-descrip...