Generalist predators are increasingly used in biological pest control for greenhouse crops, as they control multiple pests and persist in crops even when prey is scarce. However, some of these predators may cause plant damage due to their omnivorous feeding behaviour. In many European regions, the omnivorous predator Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter) (Hemiptera: Miridae) is considered to be a serious tomato pest, regardless of the biological control services it offers, and integrated pest management (IPM) strategies are based instead on Macrolophus pygmaeus (Rambur). However, as N. tenuis may competitively displace M. pygmaeus and cause severe damage, growers often resort to pesticide use, disrupting their biological control practice. In this study, we evaluated the competitive interactions of three mirid predators, Dicyphus errans Wolff, Dicyphus bolivari Lindberg, and Dicyphus cerastii Wagner, with N. tenuis. The results showed that pre-establishment of heterospecific mirid species can successfully suppress N. tenuis in the greenhouse; population growth was reduced by more than 90% compared to plants without competing predators. Further laboratory trials revealed reciprocal intraguild predation between these species in the absence of extraguild prey. Dicyphus adults predated on N. tenuis nymphs, while this was not found for M. pygmaeus. In olfactometer bioassays, N. tenuis females preferred plants previously exposed to heterospecifics but not conspecifics, suggesting that this mirid does not avoid competition. These results suggest that the three Dicyphus species could be interesting candidates for preventive releases in tomato crops due to their ability to effectively suppress N. tenuis population growth.

多面手捕食者越来越多地用于温室作物的生物害虫防治，因为它们可以控制多种害虫，即使在猎物稀缺时也能在作物中持续存在。然而，其中一些捕食者可能由于其杂食性摄食行为而对植物造成损害。在许多欧洲地区，杂食性捕食者Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter) (Hemiptera: Miridae) 被认为是一种严重的番茄害虫，无论它提供何种生物防治服务，而综合害虫管理 (IPM) 策略则基于Macrolophus pygmaeus（拉姆布尔）。然而，由于N. tenuis可能会竞争性地取代M. pygmaeus并造成严重损害，种植者经常使用杀虫剂，破坏他们的生物防治实践。在这项研究中，我们评估了三种稀有捕食者Dicyphus errans Wolff 、Dicyphus bolivari Lindberg 和Dicyphus cerastii Wagner 与N. tenuis 的竞争性相互作用。结果表明，预建异种蜈蚣种可以成功地抑制温室中的细纹猪笼草；与没有竞争捕食者的植物相比，人口增长减少了 90% 以上。进一步的实验室试验表明，在没有公会外猎物的情况下，这些物种之间存在相互的公会内捕食。Dicyphus成虫早于N. tenuis若虫，而对于M. pygmaeus没有发现。在嗅觉仪生物测定中，N. tenuis雌性更喜欢先前暴露于异种而非同种的植物，这表明这种mirid 不会避免竞争。这些结果表明，这三种Dicyphus物种可能是番茄作物预防性释放的有趣候选者，因为它们能够有效抑制N. tenuis种群增长。