Food preference of the rove beetle, Atheta coriaria Kraatz （Coleoptera： Staphylinidae） under laboratory conditions

A study, involving laboratory choice tests, was conducted to determine the feeding behavior, based on food preference, of the adult and larval stage of the rove beetle, Atheta coriaria Kraatz when presented with both fresh moistened oatmeal and second instar fungus gnat, Bradysia sp. nr. coprophila （Lintner） larvae in Petri dishes. Rove beetles used in this study came from a laboratory-reared colony. A rating scale from 1 to 5, based on percent missing （1 = 0 to 10%, 2 = 11 to 30%, 3 = 31 to 50%, 4 = 51 to 75%, and 5 = 76 to 100%）, was used to objectively assess the amount of oatmeal and number of fungus gnat larvae consumed by each rove beetle adult and larva. In all the choice tests, A. coriaria adults and larvae preferred to feed on fungus gnat larvae （78% and 69%, respectively） significantly more so than oatmeal （9% and 5%, respectively） based on the amount of oatmeal and number of fungus gnat larvae consumed after 4 and 6 hours. There were relatively minimal differences in the amount of food consumed for both adults and larvae after 4 and 6 hours. The results of this study indicate that oatmeal may be an inexpensive supplemental food source, during the rearing process, which will not inhibit the effectiveness of rove beetles to control fungus gnat larvae when released into greenhouses.

Food preference of the rove beetle, Atheta coriaria Kraatz (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) under laboratory conditions

A study, involving laboratory choice tests, was conducted to determine the feeding behavior, based on food preference, of the adult and larval stage of the rove beetle, Atheta coriaria Kraatz when presented with both fresh moistened oatmeal and second instar fungus gnat, Bradysia sp. nr. coprophila (Lintner) larvae in Petri dishes. Rove beetles used in this study came from a laboratory‐reared colony. A rating scale from 1 to 5, based on percent missing (1 = 0 to 10%, 2 = 11 to 30%, 3 = 31 to 50%, 4 = 51 to 75%, and 5 = 76 to 100%), was used to objectively assess the amount of oatmeal and number of fungus gnat larvae consumed by each rove beetle adult and larva. In all the choice tests, A. coriaria adults and larvae preferred to feed on fungus gnat larvae (78% and 69%, respectively) significantly more so than oatmeal (9% and 5%, respectively) based on the amount of oatmeal and number of fungus gnat larvae consumed after 4 and 6 hours. There were relatively minimal differences in the amount of food consumed for both adults and larvae after 4 and 6 hours. The results of this study indicate that oatmeal may be an inexpensive supplemental food source, during the rearing process, which will not inhibit the effectiveness of rove beetles to control fungus gnat larvae when released into greenhouses.