Early-season predation on aphids by winter-active spiders in apple orchards revealed by diagnostic PCR

Aphids are major pests in apple orchards, debilitating the crop and spreading disease. We investigated whether early-season predation by canopy spiders may be effectively controlling aphid numbers in three organic orchards. For this purpose, we monitored the aphid population dynamics from the winter eggs to colony stages and compared this to spider abundances and rates of predation on aphids detected by diagnostic polymerase chain reaction. For the latter, we applied existing general aphid primers. We found that spiders ate colony fundatrices and that aphid numbers were negatively related to spider abundance. Spiders were the main active predators within the orchards when the first colony fundatrices were present, indicating their importance in the early control of aphid populations

The spiders of the high-altitude meadows of Mont Nimba (West Africa): a preliminary report

Volume: 33Start Page: 629End Page: 63

A review of six linyphiid spiders described from China by Dr E. Schenkel (Araneae: Linyphiidae)

Volume: 112Start Page: 647End Page: 66