The Potential Benefits of Fleahopper Induced Defenses

Here we investigate the potential for feeding by the cotton fleahopper, Pseudatomoscelis seriatus (Hemiptera:Miridae) to induce defenses which decrease the performance of Lepidoptera pests, the beet army worm Spodoptera exigua. In this field experiment, cotton plants were infested with cotton fleahoppers for 48 hours. Following fleahopper infestation, plants were infested with 10 neonate beet armyworm larvae. Larvae survival was tracked for 10 days. In addition to larval performance, plant performance was tracked. Preliminary results suggest that cotton plants benefit from fleahopper feeding to induce defenses against lepidopteron herbivores and maintain high yields.