Predation of the Newly Invasive Pest Megacopta cribraria (Hemiptera: Plataspidae) in Soybean Habitats Adjacent to Cotton by a Complex of Predators

ABSTRACT The kudzu bug, Megacopta cribraria (F.) (Hemiptera: Plataspidae), is a newly invasive exotic insect found primarily on kudzu, but also on soybean, in the southeastern United States. We used molecular gut-content analysis to document predation on this pest by insects and spiders in soybean, and to detect remains of crop-specific alternative prey in predators' guts as markers of predator migration between soybean and adjacent cotton. M. cribraria was found exclusively on soybean. Eight native generalist predators over both crops screened positive by specific PCR for DNA of the pest: Geocoris punctipes (Say), Geocoris uliginosus (Say), Orius insidiosus (Say), Podisus maculiventris (Say), Hippodamia convergens Guerin-Meneville, Zelus renardii (Kolenati), Oxyopes salticus Hentz, and Peucetia viridans (Hentz) ; a ninth predator, the exotic Solenopsis invicta Buren, also screened positive for M. cribraria DNA. P. viridans was the only arthropod that tested positive for DNA of this invasive pest in only ...