ABSTRACT
Tomato is an important crop in Spain (60,000 ha in 1982), both outdoors and in greenhouses. The relative importance of pests is different in zones where outdoor crops coexist with greenhouse production than in other areas where no greenhouse cultivation exists. In the first ones, Trialeurodes vaporariorum, aphids (several species) and Liriomyza trifolii are the main pests. In the second ones, Tetranychus sp., Heliothis armigera and cutworms cause the main economic damage.
In Catalunya (first situation) a mirid bug Dicyphus tamaninii may be useful for decreasing greenhouse whitefly populations, but its feeding habits on tomato fruits may risk its possibilities as a biological control agent in tomato crops. It is necessary to implement a system for monitoring H. armigera and leaf-eating caterpillar populations in order to improve microbial insecticide sprayings.
Field tomato pests and their identified natural enemies in Canarias are similar to Catalunya ones, but the special climatology of the Islands (milder winter and summer) may modify the relationships described for Catalunya. Until now, research effort in Canarias has been directed to biological control in greenhouses with Encarsia formosa and Phytoseiulus persimilis.
