Philippine acarine biological control agents: status, bioecology and research prospects

Professorial Chair Lecture

Paper presented as Professorial Chair Lecture

Place

University of the Philippines Foundation

Date

6-29-2001

Abstract

The known diversity of Philippine predatory families with potentially important biological control agents is reviewed, together with their habitat plants and associated phytophagous, storage or parasitic mites. Based on almost complete taxonomic accounts of material accumulated for over 30 years from the country, especially on Luzon island, the Phytoseiidae leads with 105 known species on 435 species of plants, and the Cunaxidae and Cheyletidae each with 54 species collected from 114 and 80 plants. respectively. Twelve phytoseiids appear to be important, based on their broad habitat distribution on food crops, ornamentals and other plants with various uses, as well as on weeds, forage and wild forest species. Typhiodromus contiguus Chant is the most common with 145 recorded plant habitats.

Several other predatory species with broad geographic distribution which have been given some research attention in other countries are also commonly found in the Philippines. Among these are the phytoseiids, Amblyseius phillipsi Schicha, A. largoensis (Muma), A. avails (Evans), A. asiaticus (Evans), A. tamatavensis Blommers, A. longispinosus (Evans) and Paraphytoseius multidentatus Swirski and Shechter, the cunaxids, Armascirus taurus (Kramer) and Cunaxa lukoschusi Smiley; and the cheyletids, Cheletogenes ornatus (Canestrini and Fanzago), Hemicheyletia anarbora (De Leon) and H. wellsina (De Leon).

Local information on the biology and ecology of phytoseiids is limited to A. longispinosus, an important predator of the spider mite, Tetranychus kanzawai IKishida, on several crops especially cassava. These are based on unpublished reports of researches conducted on Leyte island, in the Visayas State College of Agriculture campus. Successful biological control of cassava spider mites with this phytoseiid predator in a commercial plantation in Lanao del Sur is noted from an unpublished report also of VISCA researchers. Notes are given on the host range, feeding habits and consumption rate of Cheylaus malaccensis Oudemans from two unpublished undergraduate theses in the University of the Philippines Los Banos. This cheyletid commonly inhabits stored products of both plant and animal origin, as well as house dust and nests or bodies of birds. It has been observed to feed voraciously on storage acaroids as well as on the chicken feather mite, Pterolichus obtusus Robin and the Tropical Fowl Mite, Ornithonyssus bursa (13erlese), a parasite of brooding chickens. It also attacks and feeds on bigger associated insects like psocids, Corcyra and Triholium eggs, and the pigeon louse, Columhicola columhae. Recent outbreaks of phytophagous mites on high value crops like roses, chrysanthemums and strawberries in the Cordilleras, and sporadic reports of similar problems in commercial plantations of solo papaya, Chinese pumelo, cassava and ornamentals in Mindanao, point to the urgent need and prospects for biological control research in the Philippines. Aside from augmentative releases of mass reared predators, it is recommended that future research will focus on community ecology of arboreal and litter-inhabiting mites as bases for crop management strategies that protect and enhance populations of natural enemies through habitat manipulation.

Key words: Acari, Phytoseiidae, Amblyseius longispinosus. Cheyletus malaccensis, biological control, predatory mites

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section

Call Number

Sp. Col.

Pages/Collation

41 leaves

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