Predatory Heteropteran Bugs as Potential Tools in Integrated Pest Management: A Review

Predatory true bugs provide an important but unevenly realised opportunity for biologically based management of arthropod pests. Species within Anthocoridae, Miridae, Geocoridae, Nabidae, Reduviidae and predatory Pentatomidae attack economically consequential prey, yet their efficacy depends on prey identity, crop architecture, alternative foods, trophic interactions and exposure to pesticides. This critical narrative review evaluates the circumstances under which predatory Heteroptera function as reliable components of integrated pest management, rather than treating predatory capacity alone as evidence of crop protection. Targeted searches of accessible scholarly indexes and agricultural literature identified experimental studies, field assessments, ecological analyses and relevant reviews published within a defined historical window. Evidence is organised around functional traits, crop-specific performance, zoophytophagy, intraguild interactions, establishment, pesticide compatibility and implementation criteria. The most persuasive practical evidence concerns minute pirate bugs in thrips management and certain mirid assemblages used against whiteflies and tomato leafminers in protected crops. Damsel bugs, big-eyed bugs, assassin bugs and predatory stink bugs extend the range of potential applications, but large-scale replicated evidence is less consistent for several species and production systems. Plant feeding by omnivorous mirids illustrates a central tension: it can favour persistence and activate plant defences, but, in certain predator–prey contexts, causes economically relevant crop injury. Combinations of predators can provide complementary prey coverage or harmful intraguild effects, and laboratory toxicity rankings do not necessarily predict field compatibility. Future programmes should prioritise economically interpretable outcomes, locally adapted predator identities, explicit non-target assessment and multi-season comparisons against realistic pest-management alternatives. Predatory bugs are therefore best regarded as functionally diverse, context-dependent biological control agents whose deployment requires ecological matching and measurable decision rules.