Water Relations of Several Arthropod Predators in the Peanut Agroecosystem

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Abstract
Water content and percentage of total body water (TBW) lost as a function of time was determined for four common predators in the peanut agroecosystem that may feed on the lesser cornstalk borer, Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). TBW loss by Geocoris punctipes (Say) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae), Reduviolus roseipennis Reuter (Hemiptera: Nabidae), and Oxyopes salticus Hentz (Aranae: Oxyopidae) increased linearly with desiccation time, but for workers of Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), it increased as a curvilinear function of desiccation time. Mortality of insects in a 24-h period was 69.4 and 80.6% for nymphal and adult G. punetipes, 16.7 and 58.1% for nymphal and adult R. roseipennis, 100% for S. invieta workers, and 14.7 and 13.0% for nymphal and adult O. saltieus. These high mortalities suggest that the lesser cornstalk borer is better able to survive xeric conditions than some of its common predators.