We studied the food quality of the aphid Rhopalosiphum padi to the pirate bug Orius majusculus using Ephestia eggs as high‐quality comparison prey. Several performance parameters were tested on individuals that had been reared and maintained on each of the two single‐prey diets or on a mixed diet. All fitness parameters were lower in individuals fed aphids only, indicating poor food quality of this prey. Compared with the pure Ephestia egg diet, the mixed diet enhanced teneral mass, while adult survival and female starvation tolerance were negatively affected and all other traits were unaffected. Body protein proportions were constant across diets, whereas lipid proportion was low in the aphid treatment. Preference for aphids was lower following a monotypic aphid diet than when reared on Ephestia eggs or a mixed diet. The results confirm that R. padi is low‐quality food for O. majusculus as it is for other generalist predators, even though O. majusculus may contribute significantly to population suppression of the aphid.

中文翻译：

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Ephestia 卵、Rhopalosiphum padi 和 Orius majusculus 混合饲料的食品质量

我们使用 Ephestia 卵作为高质量的比较猎物研究了蚜虫 Rhopalosiphum padi 对海盗虫 Orius majusculus 的食物质量。在饲养和维持两种单一猎物饮食或混合饮食的个体上测试了几个性能参数。仅喂食蚜虫的个体的所有健康参数都较低，表明这种猎物的食物质量较差。与纯 Ephestia 鸡蛋日粮相比，混合日粮增加了睾丸质量，而成虫存活率和雌性饥饿耐受性受到负面影响，所有其他性状不受影响。不同饮食中的身体蛋白质比例是恒定的，而蚜虫处理中的脂质比例较低。单型蚜虫饮食后对蚜虫的偏好低于以 Ephestia 卵或混合饮食饲养时。结果证实 R.