Biology of green lacewing, Apertochrysa astur (Banks) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) and its predatory potential against invasive Rugose Spiralling Whitefly, Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin and Bondar’s Nesting Whitefly, Paraleyrodes bondari Peracchi (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) of coconut

The invasive whitefly species, Rugose Spiralling Whitefly (RSW) and Bondar’s Nesting Whitefly (BNW) in coconut were reported in 2016 at Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, India and in 2019 in Kerala, India, respectively. Among the natural enemies of whiteflies, Apertochrysa astur (Banks) is predominant in coconut ecosystem. Morphology, biology, and predatory potential of A. astur have been studied. The duration of first, second, and third instar grubs of A. astur was 3.65 ± 0.109, 5.4 ± 0.184, and 6.15 ± 0.167 days when provided with RSW. Likewise, the duration of first, second, and third instar grubs of A. astur when fed with BNW averaged 3.8 ± 0.172, 6.0 ± 0.145, and 6.8 ± 0.225 days, respectively. In a laboratory experiment on the predatory potential, a third instar grub of A. astur devoured a maximum of 313 and 333 second instar nymphs of RSW and BNW, respectively. The grubs of A. astur were observed to be extremely efficient in terms of predatory potential with respect to A. rugioperculatus and P. bondari . The results supported that A. astur can be employed as an efficient biological control agent for the invasive whitefly species in the coconut ecosystem.