Interaction of two indigenous predators of the spiralling whitefly, Aleurodicus dispersus Russell with the introduced parasitoid, Encarsia guadeloupae Viggiani in India

Laboratory studies conducted to understand the interaction of two predator species viz., Axinoscymnus puttarudriahi Kapur and Munshi and Cybocephalus sp. with the parasitoid, Encarsia guadeloupae Viggiani through documenting their ability to identify parasitised whitefly nymphs from unparasitised ones, clearly demonstrated the prey avoidance behaviour of the two predators to the parasitised nymphs. Both the predator species completely avoided feeding on spiralling whitefly, Aleurodicus dispersus Russell, nymphs containing the pupae of the introduced parasitoid, E. guadeloupae, when presented only the parasitised nymphs or when both parasitised and unparasitised nymphs were provided together. Encarsia guadeloupae adults emerged normally from tests where parasitised nymphs were provided as food for the predators.