Predator origin, rearing diet and diet during the experimental phases in experiment 2.

Female offspring from mothers derived from the spider mite-reared line of the Israel population of Amblyseius swirskii (IL-SM) were, in the larval and early protonymphal stage (experience phase), exposed to thrips larvae, Frankliniella occidentalis, or not (naïve), then fed on spider mites until reaching adulthood (consolidation phase) and, after mating, tested for predation on thrips (behavioral assay). In the experience phase, the predators were allowed either to only contact thrips (non-associative learning) or to contact and feed on thrips (associative learning) or to contact and feed on spider mites (thrips-naïve).