IMPACT OF THE STRIPED LYNX SPIDER (ARANEAE, OXYOPIDAE) AND OTHER NATURAL ENEMIES ON THE COTTON FLEAHOPPER (HEMIPTERA, MIRIDAE) IN TEXAS COTTON

Natural predation on nymphs and adults of the cotton fleahopper, Pseudatomoscelis seriatus (Reuter), was assessed during 108 h of visual observation in an insecticide-free cotton field in central Texas. Predaceous arthropods of 13 species (from nine families) were observed to forage on the fleahopper. More than 80% of the predation events observed were attributable to spiders. The striped lynx spider, Oxyopes salticus Hentz, was dominant among the predators observed eating fleahoppers (15 records of feeding in action). Cotton fleahoppers composed almost-equal-to 25% of the total prey of O. salticus during June and july. It was estimated during midseason that once every 4 d, one O. salticus would kill one cotton fleahopper. The assessment of the killing power of O. salticus, based on the predation rate and the predator-to-prey ratio (i.e., number of O. salticus individuals per fleahopper), suggests that these spiders are important mortality agents of the cotton fleahopper (greater-than-or-equal-to 15% prey mortality per day in the middle of the growing season). Additional fleahopper mortality is attributable to other predaceous arthropods such as Peucetia viridans (Hentz) (Oxyopidae), jumping spiders (Salticidae), crab spiders (Thomisidae), web-building spiders (Araneidae, Dictynidae, Theridiidae), damsel bugs (Nabidae), and ants (Formicidae).