| Summary: | <i>Spodoptera frugiperda</i> is a serious pest of maize and other crops worldwide. The integration of control tactics is recommended for <i>S. frugiperda</i> suppression because reports of insecticide and Btplant-resistance are frequent. Biological control agents would be an alternative to improve <i>S. frugiperda</i> control in agricultural areas. We constructed a species-specific molecular marker to detect <i>S. frugiperda</i> DNA in predators’ gut content and estimated the predation rates of ladybugs and earwigs on <i>S. frugiperda</i> in maize crops. Predators were sampled in Pirassununga, São Paulo state, Brazil, in 2020 and 2021. Using the species-specific molecular marker in laboratory conditions, we estimated the half-life time to detect <i>S. frugiperda</i> DNA in the gut contents of <i>Hippodamia convergens</i> as 6.16 h and <i>Doru luteipes</i> as 25.72 h. The weekly predation rate of <i>S. frugiperda</i> by predators in maize crop varied from 0 to 42.1% by ladybugs and from 0 to 9.2% by <i>D. luteipes</i>. Predation events on <i>S. frugiperda</i> by predators were more frequent during the maize reproductive stage. Our results confirmed that predators might contribute to <i>S. frugiperda</i> suppression in maize fields. However, further studies of prey–predator interactions and agricultural landscapes are essential for a better understanding of predator dynamics in crops.
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