The Searching Behavior of Scolothrips longicornis (Priesner) in Relation to Plant Surface Topography Kheradpir Neda1,*, Rezapanah Mohammadreza2, Kamali Karim1, Fathipour Yaghoub3 1Dept. Entomology, Fac. of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, P.O.Box: 14155-4933. Tehran, Iran. 2Dept. Biological Control Research, Plant Protection Research Institute of Iran, P.O.Box: 19395-1454, Tehran, Iran 3Dept. Entomology, Fac. Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O.Box: 14115-336. Tehran, Iran. E-mail: fathi@modares.ac.ir *E-mail: n.kheradpir@gmail.com
Abstract The searching behaviour of the predaceous thrips, Scolothrips longicornis Priesner, was studied to evaluate the predator orientation toward its prey related to host plant features specially plant surface trichomes. We estimated walking speed, number of turns and orientation degree and time needed to get the first prey under laboratory condition on the undersurface of four plant species (eggplant, cucumber, tomato and sweet pepper). Eggplant with rational dense trichomes on the undersurface provided the most favorable substance for predator searching behaviour with significant difference; walking speed (6.27 ± 0.32 seconds), covered distance (20.41 ± 1.11 mm), 5.58 ± 0.76 turns and 176.66 ± 13.96 seconds. So, the predator's searching efficiency was not similar among plant species. Thus the combined effect of plant directly on the predator walking behavior influenced the predator's searching efficiency and it may lead to significantly different predation rate. Top Keywords plant topography, Scolothrips longicornis, walking, orientation, host plant. Top |