Abstract
Macrolophus pygmaeus is a polyphagous mirid bug native to the Mediterranean area where it is widely used in the biological control of whiteflies and other pests in vegetable crops. To assess the presence of eggs in females is important in order to optimize predator release strategies, as well as their mass rearing. This study shows an alternative to the traditional procedures of fertility assessment based on evaluation of newly hatched nymphs. A polyclonal antiserum was produced against M. pygmaeus egg proteins, and an ELISA protocol was developed to determine whether laboratory-reared or field-collected females contained egg proteins (mainly vitellin). When field-collected females were analysed, an 80% contained egg proteins indicating that they were reproductively active. Presence/absence of egg proteins was detected with an error than 1%. Since this ELISA protocol allowed also the detection of egg protein precursors, it was more precise and less time consuming than conventional techniques as abdomen dissection or egg-hatch evaluation in determining egg presence in females.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Jordi Riudavets, Oscar Alomar and Rosa Gabarra from IRTA Entomology for their helpful comments and suggestions on the manuscript and to Dolors Piulachs from Institut de Biología Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF) for her advice on the methodology. We also are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their wise comments. This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) (projects AGL2005-03768 and AGL2008-00546). Katherine Franco had a PhD grant from the Spanish research agency INIA, and Nuria Agustí was supported by the program ‘Ramón y Cajal’ funded by the MICINN.
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Communicated by: M. Traugott
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Franco, K., Aramburu, J., Agustí, N. et al. Egg detection in females of the polyphagous predator Macrolophus pygmaeus (Heteroptera: Miridae) by serological techniques. J Pest Sci 84, 1–8 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-010-0318-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-010-0318-1