Tara-Kay L. Jones, Sharon A. Andreason, Alvin M. Simmons
Journal of Agricultural and Urban Entomology 40 (1), 7-17, (19 July 2024) https://doi.org/10.3954/JAUE24-02
KEYWORDS: insect vectors, pest Management, begomovirus, coccinellid
The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), and whitefly-transmitted tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) (Geminiviridae: Begomovirus) complex can result in 100% yield losses to certain vegetable crops. Delphastus catalinae (Horn) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) is marketed as a biological control agent of B. tabaci. A study was conducted to determine the impact of TYLCV on the prey searching behavior of D. catalinae. Y-tube olfactometer experiments were conducted to examine the responses of D. catalinae towards B. tabaci with and without TYLCV on tomato (a TYLCV host plant) and collard (a non-host of TYLCV). The results demonstrated that D. catalinae exhibited a preference for the odor emitted by viruliferous whiteflies compared to virus-free whiteflies. Conversely, the attractiveness of TYLCV-infected tomato plants was lower compared with mock-inoculated healthy tomato plants. The response towards viruliferous insects on both tomato and collard plants was similar. This research highlights the intricate tritrophic relationships impacting the host- and prey-finding abilities of insect predators in vegetable production systems for the development of effective biological control strategies in the management of whiteflies in vegetable crops.