Biological Aspects and Predation of Pygidicrana v-nigrum against the Mediterranean Fly Ceratitis capitata

Abstract

Fruit flies are pests of great agricultural concern, as they cause serious damage to the global fruit production. However, there are potential entomophagous organisms that can reduce the population of pest species such as Ceratitis capitata. Among the voracious and entomophagous Dermaptera predators, the species Pygidicrana v-nigrum displays a strong predatory potential to improve the agricultural handling by assisting the reduction of agrochemical use. This study aims to evaluate the biological development and quantification of P. v-nigrum consumption and predation of C. capitata during the fruit fly’s immature stages. Larvae from the 3rd instar and pupae of the Mediterranean fruit fly were used, where biological parameters were analyzed, including the duration and nymphal viability, adult insect size (length), sex ratio, survival of adults and egg production, and the ethology of predation behavior. It was found that the P. v-nigrum nymphs from the 1st to 3rd instar did not feed on the pupal stage C. capitata. When ingesting the C. capitata larvae, the Dermaptera reached the end of the nymph period, on average, after 228 days. The lowest nymphal viability of P. v-nigrum was 85.0% and occurred in its 1st instar when fed with larvae. The food provided did not influence the size of this regardless of sex; however, predation on C. capitata larvae resulted in a higher proportion of females. Furthermore, the survival of the female P. v-nigrum was longer than the male, regardless of the food consumed. There were a high number of deposited eggs from  P. v-nigrum when feeding on pupae. The predatory consumption of P. v-nigrum increased when fed with C. capitata larvae and pupae, regardless of the nymphal or adult phases. It can be concluded, from the results, that the biological development of the P. v-nigrum is not affected when fed with the larval and pupal stages of C. capitata.