The predatory bug,Orius majusculus(Reuter), is an important predator of thrips commercially produced for augmentative releases using the eggs of the Mediterranean flour moth Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller). In this study, we assessed the potential for using frozen adults of fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen), either as nymphal rearing diet or as diet throughout the entire life-cycle. We compared life-history traits and reproduction of predators when fed D. melanogaster with high lipid body content (lipid-rich) and with high protein body content (protein-rich), using a diet of 100% E. kuehniellaeggs as control. We also analyzed the biochemical composition of both prey and predator in order to assess the nutritional quality of each diet, which partially explained the adequacy of the different diets for O. majusculus. There were significant differences between predators fed the two types of D. melanogaster, with the protein-rich flies as diet providing the best results in terms of mortality and fecundity. Furthermore, we show that while feeding O. majusculus throughout their development with D. melanogasterincreases mortality and reduces reproduction, protein-rich D. melanogaster can be used as nymphal diet with minimal reduction in reproductivity and minimal increase in mortality.

捕食性天敌Orius majusculus，一般是利用地中海粉蛾Ephestia kuehniella(Zeller)的卵进行商业生产以增加释放，它是蓟马的重要捕食者。在这项研究中，我们评估了果蝇的冷冻成虫，黑腹果蝇(Meigen)，作为若虫饲养饲料或作为整个生命周期的饲料的可能性。我们比较了取食高脂肪黑腹果蝇和高蛋白黑腹果蝇时捕食者的生活史特征和繁殖情况，以100%Ephestia kuehniella为对照。我们还分析了猎物和捕食者的生化组成，以评估每种饵料的营养质量，这部分解释了不同饵料对O. majusculus的适宜性。取食这两种类型的黑腹果蝇的O. majusculus在多个生活史指标上存在着显著的差异，当取食富含蛋白质的果蝇时在死亡率和繁殖力方面的效果最好。此外，我们还表明，在O. majusculus的整个发育过程中，都用黑腹果蝇喂养会增加死亡率和减少繁殖，而富含蛋白质的黑腹果蝇可以作为若虫的饲料，而繁殖力的降低和死亡率的增加都是微乎其微的。

Montoro, M., et al. (2020). "Nutritional quality of Drosophila melanogaster as factitious prey for rearing the predatory bug Orius majusculus." Insect Sci