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Survey of natural enemies of spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) in citrus orchards in eastern Spain

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Abstract

Field surveys were conducted from 2004 to 2007 to determine the species composition and relative abundance of natural enemies associated with colonies of either the citrus red mite, Panonychus citri, or the two spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, in Valencian citrus orchards (eastern Spain). Fourteen species were recorded, six phytoseiid mites and eight insect predators. Two of them are reported for the first time on citrus in Spain and two more are first reports as predators associated with T. urticae. The community of predators associated with T. urticae and P. citri was almost identical, and the Morisita–Horn index of similarity between both natural enemy complexes was close to one, suggesting that predators forage on both pest species. Quantifying the presence of many known spider mites predators in Valencian citrus orchards is an important first step towards spider mite control. A challenge for future studies will be to establish conservation and/or augmentation management strategies for these predators, especially to improve T. urticae biological control.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (projects AGL2004-07464-C03-02 and AGL2005-07155-C03-02/AGR) and the Conselleria d’Agricultura, Pesca i Alimentació de la Generalitat Valenciana. The authors wish to thank M. Goula (Universidad de Barcelona, SP) for taxonomical advice with the Heteroptera, to C. Monzó (IVIA) for his help in the analysis and to F. Barraclough for correcting the English. We are also grateful to H. Montón (IVIA) and M. Guillén and L. Peris-Berenguer (Tragsatec, Valencia, SP) for their time in finding locations to sample. R. Abad-Moyano was recipient of a grant from IVIA.

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  1. Unidad de Entomología, Centro de Protección Vegetal y Biotecnología, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), Ctra. de Moncada a Nàquera km. 4.5, 46113, Moncada, Valencia, Spain

    Raquel Abad-Moyano, Tatiana Pina, Óscar Dembilio & Alberto Urbaneja

  2. Laboratorio de Acarología, Instituto Agroforestal Mediterráneo, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), Camí de Vera, 14, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Francisco Ferragut

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  1. Raquel Abad-Moyano
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  2. Tatiana Pina
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  3. Óscar Dembilio
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  4. Francisco Ferragut
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  5. Alberto Urbaneja
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Correspondence to Alberto Urbaneja.

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Abad-Moyano, R., Pina, T., Dembilio, Ó. et al. Survey of natural enemies of spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) in citrus orchards in eastern Spain. Exp Appl Acarol 47, 49–61 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-008-9193-3

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