The pest status of the red cotton bug, Dysdercus koenigii (Fab.) has been changing due to the climatic changes, and appearances of new natural enemies in cotton agro-ecosystems. As a specialized predator of Dysdercus bugs, Antilochus coquebertii (Fab.) has been known, and is abundant now in cotton fields in Tamil Nadu, India. Therefore we investigated its predatory behavior and the preference against prey developmental stage in order to evaluate its performance as a natural enemy against D . koenigii . The predatory behavior of A . coquevertii adults consisted of seven feeding acts; i.e., arousal, approaching, capturing, rostral probing, paralyzing, feeding and post-feeding. Adult males were quicker than females in predatory acts including aroused, approached, captured, probed the prey by rostrum, paralyzed, and post-predatory behaviors. The predators exhibited an active hunting behavior, in which they seem to have used both olfactory and visual stimuli for orientation to the prey. The results of the prey-choice test exhibited that the second, third, fourth and fifth nymphal-stage and adult predator has a reproductive-stage preference to the second, third, fourth and fifth nymphal-stage and adult prey, respectively. The results implies that the synchronization between the occurrence of the prey and the predator could have significance for the control of the pest using the predator.

中文翻译：

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Antilochus coquebertii (Pyrrhocoridae) 对 Dysdercus koenigii (Pyrrhocoridae) 的捕食行为和猎物大小偏好

由于气候变化和棉花农业生态系统中新天敌的出现，红棉虫 Dysdercus koenigii (Fab.) 的害虫状况一直在发生变化。作为 Dysdercus 臭虫的专门捕食者，Antilochus coquebertii (Fab.) 已为人所知，现在在印度泰米尔纳德邦的棉田中大量繁殖。因此，我们调查了它的捕食行为和对猎物发育阶段的偏好，以评估其作为天敌对抗 D 的表现。柯尼基。A 的掠夺行为。coquevertii 成虫由七个进食行为组成；即，唤醒、接近、捕捉、喙探查、麻痹、进食和进食后。成年雄性在捕食行为中比雌性更快，包括唤醒、接近、捕获、通过讲台探测猎物、瘫痪和捕食后行为。捕食者表现出积极的狩猎行为，他们似乎同时使用嗅觉和视觉刺激来定位猎物。猎物选择测试的结果表明，第二、第三、第四和第五若虫阶段和成年捕食者分别对第二、第三、第四和第五若虫阶段和成年猎物具有生殖阶段的偏好。结果表明，猎物与捕食者发生的同步对利用捕食者控制害虫具有重要意义。第四和第五若虫阶段和成年捕食者分别对第二、第三、第四和第五若虫阶段和成年猎物具有生殖阶段的偏好。结果表明，猎物与捕食者发生的同步对利用捕食者控制害虫具有重要意义。第四和第五若虫阶段和成年捕食者分别对第二、第三、第四和第五若虫阶段和成年猎物具有生殖阶段的偏好。结果表明，猎物与捕食者发生的同步对利用捕食者控制害虫具有重要意义。