Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) is an important pest of stored products. Insecticidal treatment is a common practice for the control of this notorious insect pest. Most studies are focused on the immediate and/or delayed mortality effects, while there are no data on the effects of insecticides on the population fitness. This study deals with the effect of chlorfenapyr on T. castaneum, investigating the cost of exposure of different developmental stages on population performance, by using life table statistics and a survival analysis method. For this purpose, eggs, larvae, and parental adult females of T. castaneum were exposed to chlorfenapyr and birth or death rates were calculated daily. The exposure of eggs and larvae to chlorfenapyr was detrimental for T. castaneum and they did not complete development. When parental females were exposed to chlorfenapyr, the progeny survival curve, biological features, as well as the life table parameters did not differ significantly compared to the control treatment. Thus, egg hatching, larval and pupal developmental periods, female and male longevities for the control treatment, and the progeny of the females that were exposed to chlorfenapyr were 4.66 and 4.76 days, 25.85 and 25.71 days, 5.00 and 5.26 days, 87.33 and 104.22 days, and 76.87 and 91.87 days, respectively. In addition, the mean values of the net reproductive rate, the intrinsic rate of increase, the mean generation time and the doubling time for the control treatment and the progeny of the parental females which were exposed to chlorfenapyr were 14.3 and 9.3 females/female, 0.038 and 0.028 females/female/day, 1.039 and 1.029, 70.0 and 76.9 days, and 18.5 and 24.9 days, respectively. We expect these results to have bearing on the management of T. castaneum, since the repeatedly insecticidal applications could be reduced in storage facilities.
Population Biology of the Broad-Horned Flour Beetle, Gnathocerus cornutus (F.)(Coleoptera : Tenebrionidae) : I. Life Table and Population Parameters