Estratégias comportamentais na escolha sexual e predação de Podisus nigrispinus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) que incrementam seu desempenho reprodutivo

• Ano de defesa: 2012
• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, Alexandre Igor de Azevedo
• Orientador(a): Zanuncio, José Cola
• Banca de defesa: Pinto, Rosenilson , Soares, Marcus Alvarenga , Santos, Jorge Abdala Dergam dos , Tavares, Mara Garcia
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Doutorado em Entomologia
• Departamento: Ciência entomológica; Tecnologia entomológica
• País: BR
• Palavras-chave em Português: Predação; Comportamento; Controle biológico
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Predation; Behavior; Biological control
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CNPQ::CIENCIAS AGRARIAS::AGRONOMIA::FITOSSANIDADE::ENTOMOLOGIA AGRICOLA
• Link de acesso: http://locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/908

The stinkbug predator Podisus nigrispinus (Dallas) is the most studied Asopinae in South America and it has the potential to control agricultural and forest pests in massal rearing and release programs in Brazil. In recent decades, issues related to reproductive physiology and selectivity to insecticides has been investigated. However, behavioral responses of this natural enemy considering sexual selection and competition conditions are little known. Thus, through laboratory testing, two hypotheses were tested: (1) males of P. nigrispinus which undergoing food shortages have greater selectivity in choosing quality partners and thereby improve their participation in the quality of offspring and (2) nymphs of P. nigrispinus, in groups, can benefit in their development and survival by manipulation of larger Anticarsia gemmatalis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) compared to isolated nymphs. Both hypotheses were accepted. Weak males preferred heavier females for mating (77.78 ± 14.69%), while the strong did not differ in the choice. Females mated with weak P. nigrispinus males showed similar reproduction (eg. number of eggs per female) to those mated with males with proper diet (strong). The body weight of females was an important phenotypic criterion for choosing P. nigrispinus males for mating. Regarding the second hypothesis, the survival of nymphs in groups with large larvae was higher than for those individualized. This confirms the advantage of gregarious behavior of this predator, with better ability to handle larger prey. However, P. nigrispinus females coming from nymphs in groups with small or large prey had higher pre-oviposition and lower reproduction than females from individual nymphs. The energy savings was the main strategy for females of P. nigrispinus to overcome the negative impact of group feeding.