Food preference of the rove beetle, Atheta coriaria Kraatz （Coleoptera： Staphylinidae） under laboratory conditions

作     者：EVA M. BIRKEN RAYMOND A. CLOYD 

作者机构：Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences University of Illinois Urbana Illinois USA 

出 版 物：《Insect Science》 (昆虫科学（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2007年第14卷第1期

页      面：53-56页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 07[理学] 09[农学] 

主　　题：Atheta coriaria biological control choice tests feeding behavior fungus gnats 

摘      要：A study, involving laboratory choice tests, was conducted to determine the feeding behavior, based on food preference, of the adult and larval stage of the rove beetle, Atheta coriaria Kraatz when presented with both fresh moistened oatmeal and second instar fungus gnat, Bradysia sp. nr. coprophila （Lintner） larvae in Petri dishes. Rove beetles used in this study came from a laboratory-reared colony. A rating scale from 1 to 5, based on percent missing （1 = 0 to 10%, 2 = 11 to 30%, 3 = 31 to 50%, 4 = 51 to 75%, and 5 = 76 to 100%）, was used to objectively assess the amount of oatmeal and number of fungus gnat larvae consumed by each rove beetle adult and larva. In all the choice tests, A. coriaria adults and larvae preferred to feed on fungus gnat larvae （78% and 69%, respectively） significantly more so than oatmeal （9% and 5%, respectively） based on the amount of oatmeal and number of fungus gnat larvae consumed after 4 and 6 hours. There were relatively minimal differences in the amount of food consumed for both adults and larvae after 4 and 6 hours. The results of this study indicate that oatmeal may be an inexpensive supplemental food source, during the rearing process, which will not inhibit the effectiveness of rove beetles to control fungus gnat larvae when released into greenhouses.