Group-Living Spider Cyrtophora citricola as a Potential Novel Biological Control Agent of the Tomato Pest Tuta absoluta.

ABSTRACT: Group-living spiders may be uniquely suited for controlling flying insect pests, as their high tolerance for conspecifics and low levels of cannibalism result in large, predator dense capture webs. In laboratory settings, we tested the ability of the facultatively communal spider, Cyrtophora citricola, to control the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta; a major pest of tomato crops worldwide. We tested whether prey capture success was affected by spider body size, and whether prey capture differed among T. absoluta, flightless fruit flies (Drosophila hydei), and larger black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens). We found that larger spiders generally caught more prey, and that prey capture success was similar for T. absoluta and easily caught fruit flies,

SUBMITTER: Roberts-McEwen TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9864117 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature