balaustium leanderi. supplementary material
TRANSCRIPT
Generalist red velvet mite predator (Balaustium leanderi)
performs better on a mixed diet
Karen Muñoz-Cárdenas1,3
Luz Fuentes2
Fernando Cantor3
Daniel Rodríguez3
Arne Janssen1
Maurice W. Sabelis1
Photography: Jan van Arkel1
1. IBED, University of Amsterdam.2. Centro de Biosistemas, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano
3. Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada
contact: [email protected]
Predator cultures
Leaves with prey
Predatory mites
Humid peat
Towel paper
Experimental units
Petri dish lid wrapped with paper towel
Opaque PVC tube fragment
Rose leaflet
Plastic wrap barrier
Piece of cork
Plastic tube with water
Cork provides oviposition sites
Experimental units
Petri dish lid wrapped with paper towel
Transparent PVC tube fragment
Rose leaflet
Plastic wrap barrier
Plastic tube with water
Arenas to assess juvenile development
Eggs must be kept on wet cotton
Experimental units
Balaustium leanderi
Life cycle
Eggs
Prelarva
Larva
Protonymph
Deutonymph
Tritonymph
Emerging adult
Balaustium leanderi preying on a greenhouse
whitefly adult
Balaustium leanderi adult preying on western flower
thrips larva
Balaustium leanderi adult preying on two-spotted spider mite adult
0.166 mmx
0.20 mmEgg size
Balaustium leanderi exhibits big-bang reproduction