SHORT COMMUNICATION New records of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) predation by Brazilian Hemipteran predatory bugs V. H. P. Bueno 1 , J. C. van Lenteren 2 , J. C. Lins Jr 1 , A. M. Calixto 1 , F. C. Montes 1 , D. B. Silva 1 , L. D. Santiago 1 & L. M. Pe ´ rez 1 1 Department of Entomology, Federal University of Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil 2 Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands Keywords biological control, Campyloneuropsis infumatus, Engytatus varians, Geocoris punctipes, Macrolophus basicornis, Orius insidiosus Correspondence Vanda H. P. Bueno (corresponding author), Department of Entomology, Federal University of Lavras, PO Box 3037, CEP 37200-000, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil. E-mail: vhpbueno@den.ufla.br Received: May 7, 2012; accepted: September 18, 2012 doi: 10.1111/jen.12017 Abstract The tomato borer Tuta absoluta, native to western South America, is an extremely devastating pest in tomato crops in most of South America, Europe and Africa North of the Sahel, causes yield losses up to 100% and decreases fruit quality in open field and greenhouse crops if control meth- ods are not applied. In Brazil two other important lepidopteran pests – Neoleucinodes elegantalis and Helicoverpa zea – occur in tomato, as well as thrips, whiteflies and aphids. For control of these pests, frequent applica- tions of pesticides of up to 5 times per week are needed, and these resulted in the appearance of resistant populations to a number of active ingredi- ents and decimation of natural enemies. Biological control may offer a better, safer and more sustainable opportunity for pest management. Mirid predatory bugs are currently used with success in southern Europe to control T. absoluta and other pests. In Brazil, four Hemipteran predatory bugs, not yet known to attack T. absoluta, were found to successfully prey on eggs and larvae of this pest. The first results on their predation capacity, development, survival and reproduction on T. absoluta on tomato plants are presented. Introduction Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), the South American tomato pinworm or tomato borer, a key pest of tomato and native to the western part of South America, invaded Brazil around 1980 (Souza and Reis 1992) and Europe in 2006 (Desneux et al. 2010). T. absoluta is an extremely devastating pest in tomato crops in South America, Europe and Africa North of the Sahel (Desneux et al. 2010). How- ever, due to successful biological control, the pest can be very well managed in Europe (Urbaneja et al. 2012). Without control methods, this pest causes yield losses up to 100% and decreases fruit quality in both field and in greenhouse tomato crops (Guilardo ´n et al. 2001; Desneux et al. 2010). In Brazil, two other important lepidopteran pests occur in tomato: the tomato fruit borer, Neoleucinodes elegantalis (Guenee) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) and tomato fruitworm Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). In addition to these lepidopteran pests, also thrips, whiteflies, aphids and mites are problematic tomato pests. Tomato is a very important vegetable crop in Brazil with a production of 4.2 million tons on an area of almost 65 000 hectares in 2010 (Agrianual 2011). The consequence of the problematic pest situation in Brazilian tomato production – many different pests and, due to the warm climate, a fast development of pest populations – is that a high frequency of insecti- cide sprays is needed to be able to harvest tomatoes: insecticide spray frequencies can be up to 5 times per week and 36 times per production cycle of 12 weeks (Guedes and Picanco 2011). Thus, development of resistance to these insecticides is usually fast (Siqueira et al. 2000), resulting in ineffectiveness and a decima- tion of natural enemy species of the various pest organism, as well as in high pesticide residue levels on J. Appl. Entomol. 137 (2013) 29–34 © 2012 Blackwell Verlag, GmbH 29 J. Appl. Entomol.