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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Assaying Predatory Feeding Behaviors in Pristionchus and Other Nematodes
Published on: September 4, 2016
[Predation of Orius minutus on Odontothrips loti]
Shize Zhang1, Lin Wu, Xiangli Xu
1Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Resource & Pest Management of Education Ministry, College of Plant Protection, Northwest Sci-Tech University of Agriculture and Forestry, Yangling 712100, China. shizezhang@sina.com
Abstract:
In this paper, a laboratory study was made on the predation of Orius minutus on the 3rd to approximately 4th instar nymphs of Odontothrips loti, and the intraspecific interference within O. minutus. The results showed that the functional responses of adult O. minutus to O. loti nymphs fitted Holling II type equation, i. e., Na = 1.0113N/(1 + 0.04149N) in test tubes, Na = 0. 6777N/(1 + 0.03395N) in Petri dishes, and Na = 0.6417N/(1 + 0.03934N) in enveloped pots. The predation of O. minutus had strong intraspecific interference, and the relationship between predation efficiency and individual interference fitted Hassell model. Under the same spatial conditions, the predation rate of O. minutus was positively related, while its searching efficiency was negatively associated with the prey density. With the increase of the space, the attack rate (a') and maximum predation (Na) of O. minutus decreased, its handling time (Th) increased, while the type of its functional responses to the densities of 3rd to approximately 4th instar O. loti, still fitted Holling II model.
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