Feltiella acarisuga is a predatory gall midge which will feed on various species of spider mite

Spider mite

Spider mites are members of the Acari family Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. They generally live on the under sides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, and they can cause damage by puncturing the plant cells to feed...

s. It is especially common when spider mites occur in colonies. It requires a high spider mite density and high humidities to become established.

Mode of action

Adult gall-midges search for spider mite colonies actively and deposit eggs next to the spider mites. The larvae that hatch feed on spider mite eggs and suck them empty. It takes one week for the eggs to develop to mature larvae. The pupal stage takes approximately one week. Spider mites that are killed by the gall-midge shrivel up and become brown or black. Dozens of larvae can be found per spider mite infested leaf. White cocoons can be visible along the veins of the leaf.

Use in biocontrol

Feltiella acarisuga can be used to manage spider mite populations in a variety of greenhouse and field crops. Each midge larva can consume an average of least 15 adult mites, 30 mixed developmental stages, or 80 eggs per day. F.acarasuga has been extremely effective for controlling spider mites on tomato, pepper and cucumber. F. acarisuga is also used to manage spider mites on strawberries and various ornamental crops.

External links

• Feltiella acarisuga, a predatory gall midge on the UF
  University of Florida
  The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
  
   / IFAS
  Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
  The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
  
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