Middle East – Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) or B-biotype, commonly referred to as silverleaf whitefly (SLW) is an introduced pest of Australian agriculture, particularly cotton and horticulture.

The ecosystem service of biological control is an important component of integrated pest management (IPM) in cotton. Fundamental to improving the use of biological control in IPM is knowledge of predator biology and evaluating their potential contribution in pest control. Over several projects, the contribution of several important natural enemies of cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover and SLW has been studied. This includes the ladybeetle, Hippodamia variegata Goeze, the big-eyed bug Geocoris lubra Kirkaldy, damsel bugs Nabis kinbergii Reuter and the wasp parasitoid Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Cresson).

This project studied development, prey consumption and prey choice in three common cotton predators: minute two-spotted ladybird Diomus notescens Blackburn, transverse ladybird Coccinella transversalis Fabricius and green lacewing Mallada signatus Schneider.