The green lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), is a generalist predator. Adults feed only on nectar, pollen, and aphid honeydew, but its larvae are active predators. C. carnea occurs in a wide range of habitats (Henn and Weinzierl, 1990). It is considered as an effective generalist predator of most species of soft bodied insect pests, especially aphids, whiteflies, thrips, coccids, and mealy bugs (McEwen et al., 2001). C. carnea had been recorded in different regions in Saudi Arabia as indigenous species, and it was molecularly identified by different mitochondrial genes (Sayed and Amer, 2015). Biological characteristics of the predator on the aphid species, Aphis fabae Scop., as a natural prey, and on Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller) eggs, as an alternative prey, were studied (Alghamdi and Sayed, 2017).
C. carnea has the adaptability to different environmental conditions and food diversity. It has a high searching capacity and a higher potential to prey on about 200 aphid species and more than 80 species of other insect pests (Tauber et al., 2000). C. carnea has been widely used for biological control of aphids and other insect pests because of its polyphagous habits and compatibility with selected chemical insecticides, microbial agents, and amenability for mass rearing (Uddin et al., 2005). It has been mass-reared and marketed commercially in the world, especially in North America and Europe (Tauber et al., 2000). Eggs of E. kuehniella are one of the most factitious preys for mass production of chrysopids’ species because this food ensures quick growth and development, high survival rates, and higher fecundity (Specty et al., 2003).
Biological aphid control on sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) includes applications of generalist predators and parasitoids (De Backer et al., 2015). The melon aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover (Homoptera: Aphididae), is one of the most common aphid species on sweet pepper plants (Sanchez et al., 2011). This pest species has a variation in its biological parameters and reproduction on different sweet pepper cultivars (Alizadeh et al., 2016).
Squash plants (Cucurbita pepo L.) are attacked by many insect pest species, especially A. gossypii (Nyoike and Liburd, 2010). Damage may be caused directly by sucking plants’ juice or indirectly by transmitting plant viruses (Wu et al., 2010).
The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae), is one of the key pest species of sweet pepper and squash plants that causes direct damage by sucking the plant sap and indirect damage by transmitting of virus diseases (Banihashemi et al., 2017).
The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of releasing the indigenous C. carnea larvae for controlling A. gossypii and B. tabaci infesting sweet pepper and squash plants in open field trials.