balaustium leanderi. supplementary material

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: Arne.Janssen@uva.nl

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