Predatory auxiliaries

Predators are prey hunters that they use for food or to feed their larvae. Predators are generally very mobile , and often equipped with a grinder-type mouth apparatus, or a sting-sucking type, the mouth apparatus being used to perforate the prey and then aspirate the contents after digestion or not (photos 1 and 2 ).

The capture is done either by pursuit or by lookout. The predator kills its prey, then either consumes it completely, or it sucks its contents and leaves the integument empty, or it paralyzes its prey and carries it to feed its larvae. An individual can destroy a large number of preys (several tens to several hundreds). The victims are consumed partially or totally, and die.

Many predatory insects and mites are larvae and adult, the size of their prey depending on theirs. However, in some species of auxiliaries only one stage of development is predatory. It is then the mobile larva of arthropods which searches for the preys which it consumes. The adult predatory arthropod can eat the same diet as the larva or consume pollen or nectar, and its presence will be favored by the presence of flowers.