As a result of expeditionary trips to different districts of the Novosibirsk region, employees of the Laboratory of Biological Control of Phytophages and Phytopathogens of the SFSCA RAS collect plant-eating insects and mites, as well as their entomoacariphages in order to replenish the laboratory collection.
Students, schoolchildren, volunteers and other interested parties are involved in the collection of the biological material.
Further in the cameral conditions, the biomaterial is subject to sorting out, species identification, selection of the samples promising for further studies. Thus, the vegetation period of 2024 was characterized by a variety of herbivorous spider and four-legged mites damaging various agricultural and ornamental crops, as well as their acariphages - predatory phytoseiid mites.
Among predatory bugs the most promising for plant protection are representatives of the Shieldmaker family - Arma custos, Picromerus bidens and other species inhabiting the territory of our region. In southern areas there are also larger predatory insects, in particular, mantids.