Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
During the course of a census of arthropods in a collard crop (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) (Cruciferae) in central New York State in summer 1985, the authors witnessed frequent incidents of unusual feeding behavior in mirid bugs. In late July and early August, numerous observations were made by three of the authors (TWC, OSN, and BAC) of apparent feeding by nymphal (2nd–4th instar) and adult tarnished plant bugs, Lygus linolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), on cocoons of Apanteles glomeratus (L.), a braconid parasitoid of the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (L.). The predation occurred in a period of unusually high P. rapae population densities (estimated at 150 000 ha−1), when A. glomeratus cocoons were abundant on collard leaves.