Host plants preferred by tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) larvae for pupation

Abstract

Tuta absoluta also known as the leafminer of tomatoes is an invasive pest able to destroy an entire field or greenhouse with tomato plants in a few days. With this study we intend to prove the preference of larvae for pupation. For the study we have used leaves from five plant species: tomato, eggplant, pepper, fig, and Solanum nigrum. Three randomly chosen types of leaves were placed in Petri dish. The most prevalent preference of larvae was for the tomato leaves, followed by Solanum nigrum while the eggplant showed little attraction for the larvae and pepper leaves were untouched. From this study we can conclude that tomato leaves were the most preferred by T. absoluta larvae for their pupation.