Life History Traits and Predatory Performance of Belostoma anurum (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae), a Biological Control Agent of Disease Vector Mosquitoes

• Published in: Neotropical entomology Vol. 48; no. 6; pp. 899 - 908
• Main Authors: Valbon, W R, Haddi, K, Gutiérrez, Y, Cruz, F M, Azevedo, K E X, Perez Campos, J S, Salaro, A L, Oliveira, E E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-12-2019
• Subjects: Aedes; Agriculture; Animals; Biological Control; Biological Control Agents; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Culex; Diet - veterinary; Entomology; Female; Heteroptera - physiology; Larva; Life History Traits; Life Sciences; Male; Mosquito Vectors; Nymph - physiology; Predatory Behavior; spp; biological control of mosquitoes; Aquatic entomofauna; water bug; Culex spp; Aedes aegypti
• ISSN: 1519-566X; 1678-8052
• DOI: 10.1007/s13744-019-00710-8

Understanding the life cycle and dietary requirements of laboratory-reared insects is critical for optimizing resources (including time) and can provide more reliable ecological basis for using such biological control agents in realistic programs. Here, we evaluated the complete development and the predatory abilities of
Belostoma anurum
(Herrich-Schäffer, 1848) (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae), an aquatic predator widely distributed in Neotropical region, when reared at different diets. We firstly investigated the predatory performance of
B. anurum
nymphs upon mosquito larvae (i.e., larvae of
Aedes aegypti
(Linnaeus, 1758) or
Culex
sp. (Diptera: Culicidae)) and, second, whether the immature diets (i.e., arthropod-based diet (mosquito larvae and adults of Notonectidae) or vertebrate (fish larvae)–based diet) affect the predatory behavior of
B. anurum
adults. The
B. anurum
egg-to-adult developmental time was 85.1 days in an arthropod-based diet. However, when a fish-based diet was offered after nymphs reached 3rd instar, we recorded up to 50% reductions on the
B. anurum
developmental time. Interestingly,
B. anurum
adults could live more than 1 year under laboratory conditions, independently of the immature diet regime. Furthermore, the fish diet–experienced
B. anurum
adults spent less time feeding on fish larvae when compared with adults that never experienced this type of diet. Predatory results revealed that 2nd instar
B. anurum
were more efficient to catch and consume larvae of
A. aegypti
than of
Culex
sp. Collectively, our findings show that
B. anurum
is long-lived aquatic predators, and demonstrate the impacts of dietary regime on the life history traits and predatory performance of these insects.