EFFECT OF PESTICIDES ON NEOZYGITES-FLORIDANA (ENTOMOPHTHORALES, ENTOMOPHTHORACEAE) AND ARTHROPOD PREDATORS ATTACKING THE TWOSPOTTED SPIDER-MITE (ACARI, TETRANYCHIDAE) IN NORTH-CAROLINA PEANUT FIELDS

Some commonly used peanut pesticides were evaluated for their effect on natural enemies of T. urticae Koch in North Carolina peanut fields. No evidence was found to indicate that the pesticides tested directly or immediately reduced predators or that predators regulated T. urticae populations in peanut plots. The fungicide benomyl and mancozeb apparently reduced the efficacy of the T. urticae fungal pathogen N. floridana Weiser and Muma. T. urticae populations increased to damaging levels when the efficacy of N. floridana was reduced.