FOOD SUPPLY OF THE BUG MACROLOPHUS PYGMAEUS (RAMBUR, 1839) WHEN REARED UNDER ARTIFICIAL CONDITIONS

The use of insects as biocontrol agents is an increasingly popular method of plant protection, mainly in indoor environments. Macrolophus pygmaeus (Rambur, 1839) is one such agent. It has been successfully used in Europe for pest control since the end of the last century, and every year it is gaining more and more popularity in Russia. The food specialization of the polyphage is quite wide. The macrolophus bug is an effective predator that destroys whiteflies, thrips, miners, aphids, mites and eggs of scale pests, including eggs and the first stage of tomato miner moth Tuta absoluta. The paper presents a literature review on the use of the most popular bed bug feeding bases in artificial rearing, such as whitefly (Bemisia tabaci), eggs of Sitotroga cerealella, and decapsulated eggs of Artemia salina. Information is also given concerning the effectiveness of the bed bug in killing the whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum and Bemisia tabaci, economically important pests of a huge number of species of closed and open ground. On these species, the bed bug reaches its maximum effectiveness as a biocontrol agent.