اثر وجود دوماتیا بر میزان کاوشگری ماده بالغ کنه‌های Phytoseiulus persimilis و Amblyseius swirskii (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

Domatia are structures at the underside of leaves that predatory mites and other predatory arthropods which usually reside in these domatia. In this research, we studied the effect of such a structure presence or absence on two specialist and generalist adult females foraging rate, Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot and Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot, respectively. For this purpose, the plastic bridge was used. As a treatment, a detached sweet pepper plant with domatia (Capsicum annuum var. California wonder, 2.5 × 2.5 cm) and as a Control, a detached sweet pepper plant without domatia were put on two water-saturated sponge in a water –filled Petri dish (9 cm). As two experimental units were connected by bridge into strip-shaped tape. Five P. persimilis larvae, 10 Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranichidae) eggs were added to the each experimental units. An adult P. persimilis female was put in the middle of the bridge. They were kept under controlled conditions (25±2 °C, RH: 65±5%, L: 16, D: 8). The domatia on Control units were omitted using small liquid adhesive drops. In order to limit any probable effect of adhesive odor, the same drops were used on treatment patches with natural domatia. Adult females foraging rate was recorded every 15 minutes for 2 hours. The test for A. swirskii species was repeated under the same conditions. Data was analyzed through independent t test in SPSS 24. Our results showed that the presence of domatia as a refuge for predatory mites significantly (P.persimilis: P<0/05; 5/2±0/5 against 2/9± 0/4 and A.swirskii: P<0/05; 5/5±0/4 against 3/5±0/4) reduced adult females foraging rate in both species.