Eur. J. Entomol. 116: 302-308, 2019 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2019.033

Cannibalism among same-aged nymphs of the omnivorous predator Dicyphus errans (Hemiptera: Miridae) is affected by food availability and nymphal densityOriginal article

Konstantina ARVANITI1, Argyro FANTINOU2, Dionyssios PERDIKIS1
1 Laboratory of Agricultural Zoology & Entomology and
2 Laboratory of Ecology & Environmental Sciences, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 118 55, Athens, Hellenic Republic; e-mails: konarvaniti@gmail.com, argyr@aua.gr, dperdikis@aua.gr

Cannibalism, the act of eating an individual of the same species has been little studied in omnivorous insect predators. Dicyphus errans (Wolff) (Hemiptera: Miridae) is a generalist omnivorous predator that commonly occurs in tomato greenhouses and field crops in the Mediterranean basin. In this work cannibalism among same-aged neonate nymphs of D. errans was studied when 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 individuals were placed in a Petri dish along with or without heterospecific prey. Although nymphs were unable to complete their development in the absence of prey they survived longer when there were initially 2 individuals per dish than in any other treatment including a single individual. This may indicate that cannibalism in this predator has positive effect on nymphal survival, which however was not the case at higher densities. The presence of heterospecific prey increased nymphal survival and individuals were as equally successful in completing their development as when kept singly. Developmental time in all the treatments was very similar. Adult weight of both females and males was significantly greater when a nymph was reared alone and similar in all the other treatments. The results indicate that cannibalism occurs among neonates of D. errans if heterospecific prey is scarce and has a negative effect on adult weight when heterospecific prey is abundant. This should be considered in studies on enhancing the biocontrol efficiency or mass rearing of this predator.

Keywords: Hemiptera, Miridae, Dicyphus errans, adult weight, cannibalism, density, development, food availability, omnivorous predator

Received: May 22, 2019; Revised: August 22, 2019; Accepted: August 22, 2019; Published online: September 19, 2019  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
ARVANITI, K., FANTINOU, A., & PERDIKIS, D. (2019). Cannibalism among same-aged nymphs of the omnivorous predator Dicyphus errans (Hemiptera: Miridae) is affected by food availability and nymphal density. EJE, 116, Article 302-308. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2019.033
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Agarwala B.K. & Dixon A.F.G. 1992: Laboratory study of cannibalism and interspecific predation in ladybirds. - Ecol. Entomol. 17: 303-309. Go to original source...
    2. Andow D.A., Farias J.R., Horiskoshi R.J., Bernard D., Nascimento A.R.B. & Omoto C. 2015: Dynamics of cannibalism in equal-aged cohorts of Spodoptera frugiperda. - Ecol. Entomol. 40: 229-236. Go to original source...
    3. Booth E., Alyokhin A. & Pinatti S. 2017: Adult cannibalism in an oligophagous herbivore, the Colorado potato beetle. - Insect Sci. 24: 295-302. Go to original source...
    4. Buitenhuis R., Shipp L. & Scott-Dupree C. 2010: Intra-guild vs extra-guild prey: Effect on predator fitness and preference of Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) and Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) (Acari: Phytoseiidae). - Bull. Entomol. Res. 100: 167-173. Go to original source...
    5. Calvo F.J., Lorente M.J., Stansly P.A. & Belda J.E. 2012: Preplant release of Nesidiocoris tenuis and supplementary tactics for control of Tuta absoluta and Bemisa tabaci in greenhouse tomato. - Entomol. Exp. Appl. 143: 111-119. Go to original source...
    6. Castañé C., Iriarte J. & Lucas E. 2002: Comparison of prey consumption by Dicyphus tamaninii reared conventionally, and on a meat-based diet. - BioControl 47: 657-666. Go to original source...
    7. Chapman J.W., Williams T., Escribano A., Caballero P., Cave R.D. & Goulson D. 1999: Age-related cannibalism and horizontal transmission of a nuclear polyhedrosis virus in larval Spodoptera frugiperda. - Ecol. Entomol. 24: 268-275. Go to original source...
    8. Claessen D., de Roos A.M. & Persson L. 2004: Population dynamic theory of size-dependent cannibalism. - Proc. R. Soc. Lond. (B) 271: 333-340. Go to original source...
    9. Currie C.R., Spence J.R. & Niemelä J. 1996: Competition, cannibalism, and intraguild predation among ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae): A laboratory study. - Coleopt. Bull. 50: 135-148.
    10. De Clercq P., Coudron T.A. & Riddick E.W. 2013: Production of heteropteran predators. In Morales-Ramos J.A., Rojas M.G. & Shapiro-Ilan D.I. (eds): Mass Production of Beneficial Organisms: Invertebrates and Entomopathogens. Academic Press, London, pp. 57-100. Go to original source...
    11. Dong Q. & Polis G.A. 1992: The dynamics of cannibalistic populations: A foraging perspective. In Elgar M.A. & Crespi B.J. (eds): Cannibalism: Ecology and Evolution among Diverse Taxa. Oxford Science Publications, Oxford, pp. 13-37. Go to original source...
    12. Duan J.J., Larson K., Watt T., Gould J. & Lelito J.P. 2013: Effects of host plant and larval density on intraspecific competition in larvae of the Emerald Ash Borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). - Environ. Entomol. 42: 1193-1200. Go to original source...
    13. Elgar M.A. & Crespi B.J. 1992: Cannibalism: Ecology and Evolution among Diverse Taxa. Oxford University Press, Oxford, viii + 361 pp. Go to original source...
    14. Ferris G. & Rudolf V. 2007: Responses of larval dragonflies to conspecific and heterospecific predator cues. - Ecol. Entomol. 32: 283-288. Go to original source...
    15. Fox L.R. 1975: Cannibalism in natural-populations. - Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 6: 87-106. Go to original source...
    16. Gabriel W. 1985: Overcoming food limitation by cannibalism: a model study of cyclopoid copepods. - Arch. Hydrobiol. 21: 373-381.
    17. Gagné I., Coderre D. & Mauffette Y. 2002: Egg cannibalism by Coleomegilla maculata lengi neonates: Preference even in the presence of essential prey. - Ecol. Entomol. 27: 285-291. Go to original source...
    18. George P.J.E. 2002: Effect of starvation and density on the nymphal cannibalism of Rhynocoris fuscipes Fab. (Heteroptera: Reduviidae). - Entomon 27: 215-218.
    19. Ghazy N.A., Osakabe M., Negm M.W., Schausberger P., Gotoh T. & Amano H. 2016: Phytoseiid mites under environmental stress. - Biol. Contr. 96: 120-134. Go to original source...
    20. Hamdi F., Chadoeuf J., Chermiti B. & Bonato O. 2013: Evidence of cannibalism in Macrolophus pygmaeus, a natural enemy of whiteflies. - J. Insect Behav. 26: 614-621. Go to original source...
    21. Henson S.M. 1997: Cannibalism can be beneficial even when its mean yield is less than one. - Theor. Popul. Biol. 51: 109-117. Go to original source...
    22. Ingegno B.L., Ferracini C., Gallinotti D., Alma A. & Tavella L. 2013: Evaluation of the effectiveness of Dicyphus errans (Wolff) as predator of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick). - Biol. Contr. 67: 246-252. Go to original source...
    23. Ingegno B.L., Bodino N., Leman A., Messelink G.J. & Tavella L. 2017b: Predatory efficacy of Dicyphus errans on different prey. - Acta Horticult. 1164: 425-430. Go to original source...
    24. Ingegno B.L., Candian V., Psomadelis I., Bodino N. & Tavella L. 2017a: The potential of host plants for biological control of Tuta absoluta by the predator Dicyphus errans. - Bull. Entomol. Res. 107: 340-348. Go to original source...
    25. Ingegno B.L., Messelink G.J., Bodino N., Iliadou A., Driss L., Woelke J.B., Leman A. & Tavella L. 2019: Functional response of the mirid predators Dicyphus bolivari and Dicyphus errans and their efficacy as biological control agents of Tuta absoluta on tomato. - J. Pest Sci. 92: 1457-1466. Go to original source...
    26. Lambion J. 2011: Functional biodiversity in Southern France: A method to enhance predatory mirid bug populations. - Acta Hortic. 915: 165-170. Go to original source...
    27. Laycock A., Camm E., Van Laerhoven S. & Gillespie D. 2006: Cannibalism in a zoophytophagous omnivore is mediated by prey availability and plant substrate. - J. Insect Behav. 19: 219-229. Go to original source...
    28. Leon-Beck M. & Coll M. 2007: Plant and prey comsumption cause a similar reduction in cannibalism by an omnivorous bug. - J. Insect Behav. 20: 67-76. Go to original source...
    29. Lima S.L. 1998: Nonlethal effects in the ecology of predator-prey interactions. - Bioscience 48: 25-34. Go to original source...
    30. Lucas É., Fréchette B. & Alomar O. 2009: Resource quality, resource availability, and intraguild predation among omnivorous mirids. - Biocontr. Sci. Technol. 19: 555-572. Go to original source...
    31. Messelink G.J., Bennison J., Alomar O., Ingegno B.L., Tavella L., Shipp L., Palevsky E. & Wäckers F.L. 2014: Approaches to conserving natural enemy populations in greenhouse crops: current methods and future prospects. - BioControl 59: 377-393. Go to original source...
    32. Michaud J.P. 2003: A comparative study of larval cannibalism in three species of ladybird. - Ecol. Entomol. 28: 92-101. Go to original source...
    33. Moerkens R., Berckmoes E., Van Damme V., Wittemans L., Tirry L., Casteels H., De Clercq P. & De Vis R. 2017: Inoculative release strategies of Macrolophus pygmaeus Rambur (Hemiptera: Miridae) in tomato crops: population dynamics and dispersal. - J. Plant Dis. Protect. 124: 295-303. Go to original source...
    34. Montserrat M., Janssen A., Magalhaes S. & Sabelis M.W. 2006: To be an intraguild predator or cannibal: is prey quality decisive? - Ecol. Entomol. 31: 430-436. Go to original source...
    35. Moreno-Ripoll R., Agustí N., Berruezo R. & Gabarra R. 2012: Conspecific and heterospecific interactions between two omnivorous predators on tomato. - Biol. Contr. 62: 189-196. Go to original source...
    36. Parsons W., Zhong W. & Rudolf V.H.W. 2013: Mating status and kin recognition influence the strength of cannibalism. - Anim. Behav. 85: 365-369. Go to original source...
    37. Perdikis D.Ch., Arvaniti K., Paraskevopoulos A. & Grigoriou A. 2015: Pre-plant release enhanced the earlier establishment of Nesidiocoris tenuis in open field tomato. - Entomol. Hell. 24: 11-21. Go to original source...
    38. Polis G.A. 1980: The effect of cannibalism on the demography and activity of a natural population of desert scorpions. - Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 7: 25-35. Go to original source...
    39. Polis G.A. 1981: The evolution and dynamics of intraspecific predation. - Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 12: 225-251. Go to original source...
    40. Reglero P., Urtizberea A., Torres A.P., Alemany F. & Fiksen O. 2011: Cannibalism among size classes of larvae may be a substantial mortality component in tuna. - Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 433: 205-219. Go to original source...
    41. Richardson M.L., Mitchell R.F., Reagel P.F. & Hanks L.M. 2010: Causes and consequences of cannibalism in noncarnivorous insects. - Annu. Rev. Entomol. 55: 39-53. Go to original source...
    42. Riddick E.W. & Wu Z. 2010: Potential long-term storage of the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis. - BioControl 55: 639-644. Go to original source...
    43. Rudolf V.H.W. 2007: Consequences of stage-structured predators: cannibalism, behavioral effects and trophic cascades. - Ecology 88: 2991-3003. Go to original source...
    44. SAS Institute 2016: JMP Version 14.0.0. SAS Institute Inc.
    45. Schausberger P. 2003: Cannibalism among phytoseiid mites: a review. - Exp. Appl. Acarol. 29: 173-191. Go to original source...
    46. Systat Software Inc. 2011: SigmaPlot for Windows. Version 12.00. San Jose, CA.
    47. Tommasini M.G., Burgio G., Mazzoni F. & Maini S. 2002: On intra-guild predation and cannibalism in Orius insidiosus and Orius laevigatus (Rhynchota: Anthochoridae): Laboratory experiments. - Bull. Insectol. 55: 49-54.
    48. Van den Bosch F., de Roos A.M. & Gabriel W. 1988: Cannibalism as a life boat mechanism. - J. Math. Biol. 26: 619-633. Go to original source...
    49. Wise D.H. 2006: Cannibalism, food limitation, intraspecific competition, and the regulation of spider populations. - Annu. Rev. Entomol. 51: 441-465. Go to original source...
    50. Woodward G. & Hildrew A.G. 2002: Body-size determinants of niche overlap and intraguild predation within a complex food web. - J. Anim. Ecol. 71: 1063-1074. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content