scholarly journals Evaluation of Artemia franciscana Cysts to Improve Diets for Mass Rearing Stethorus gilvifrons, a Predator of Tetranychus turkestani

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 632
Author(s):  
Jafar Ebrahimifar ◽  
Parviz Shishehbor ◽  
Arash Rasekh ◽  
Seyed Ali Hemmati ◽  
Eric W. Riddick

Stethorus gilvifrons is an acarophagous coccinellid distributed in the Mediterranean region and could potentially be mass-reared for the augmentative biological control of Tetranychus turkestani and related species on crop plants. The hypothesis that brine shrimp Artemia franciscana cysts can improve diets for rearing of S. gilvifrons was tested in laboratory experiments. The diet treatments included A. franciscana cysts (D1), A. franciscana cysts plus a vitamin B complex (D2), A. franciscana cysts plus date palm pollen (D3), and A. franciscana cysts plus date palm pollen and Ephestia kuehniella eggs (D4). The results indicated that D1 did not support immature development. D2 supported egg–larval development but not pupal–adult development. Both D3 and D4 supported development to the adult stage and reproduction. However, D4 was the most effective diet, determined by observations of S. gilvifrons oviposition behavior and fecundity. A life table analysis corroborated these results; an intrinsic rate of increase, net and gross reproductive rates, and mean generation time were best for S. gilvifrons fed D4 rather than D3. A mixed diet composed of A. franciscana cysts, date palm pollen, and E. kuehniella eggs can be used to mass rear S. gilvifrons.

2002 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 279-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.S. Hoddle

AbstractThe developmental and reproductive biology of a new avocado pest, Scirtothrips perseae Nakahara, was determined in the laboratory at five constant temperatures, 15, 20, 25, 27.5 and 30°C. At 20°C, S. perseae exhibited greatest larval to adult survivorship (41%), and mated females produced a greater proportion of female offspring at this temperature when compared to 15, 25, 27.5 and 30°C. Average lifetime fecundity and preoviposition period was greatest at 15°C at 39.6 eggs per female and 17.6 days, respectively. Jackknifed estimates of net reproduction (Ro), capacity for increase (rc), intrinsic rate of increase (rm), and finite rate of increase (λ) were all significantly greater at 20°C than corresponding values at 15, 25 and 27.5°C. Population doubling time (Td) was significantly lower at 20°C, indicating S. perseae populations can double 33–71% faster at this temperature in comparison to 15, 25 and 27.5°C. Mean adult longevity decreased with increasing temperature, from a maximum of 52.4 days at 15°C to a minimum of 2.4 days at 30°C. Developmental rates increased linearly with increasing temperatures for eggs and rates were non-linear for development of first and second instar larvae, propupae, pupae, and for egg to adult development. Linear regression and fitting of the modified Logan model to developmental rate data for egg to adult development estimated that 344.8 day degrees were required above a minimum threshold of 6.9°C to complete development. An upper developmental threshold was estimated at 37.6°C with an optimal temperature of 30.5°C for egg to adult development. Unmated females produced only male offspring confirming arrhenotoky in S. perseae.


2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (10) ◽  
pp. 121-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sameh Ben Chaaban ◽  
Brahim Chermiti ◽  
Serge Kreiter

The biology and ecology of the date palm mite O. afrasiaticus have been studied through regular inspection in Tunisian oases and laboratory observations. Results indicate that the start date of fruit infestation varied between years and by date palm variety. Start dates ranged from the first week to the third week of July. The period spent by the mite on fruits varied from one variety to another; lasting 8 weeks on the Deglet Noor variety, 2 to 5 weeks on Alig, 2 to 4 weeks on Kentichi dates, and 2 to 4 weeks on Bessr fruits. The Deglet Noor variety was the most susceptible to O. afrasiaticus. Mite populations on the pinnae remained low from May through December. During autumn and spring, O. afrasiaticus was found on sorghum leaves in the orchard ground-cover. A life table study in the laboratory at 27°C on six host plants (fruits of date palms varieties Deglet Noor, Alig, Kentichi, Bessr, and Deglet Noor pinnae and sorghum leaves) showed that the life cycle of O. afrasiaticus differed among host plants with average values ranging between 13 on Alig fruits and 10.9 days on sorghum leaves. Relatively high fecundity was found on sorghum leaves (2 eggs/female/day) during 5.2 oviposition days, while low fecundity values occurred on Deglet Noor pinnae and Alig fruits with 0.7 eggs/female/day during 5.4 days. Average longevity of O. afrasiaticus females ranged from 13.4 to 7.5 days on Deglet Noor fruits and sorghum leaves, respectively. Intrinsic rate of increase (r m) was highest on sorghum leaves (0.171) and Deglet Noor fruits (0.166), and lowest on Alig fruits (0.103). Greater knowledge of life history traits and seasonal abundance of this species is needed in order to design appropriate control strategies.


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 579
Author(s):  
Jafar Ebrahimifar ◽  
Parviz Shishehbor ◽  
Arash Rasekh ◽  
Seyed Ali Hemmati ◽  
Eric W. Riddick

Background: The ladybird beetle Stethorus gilvifrons (Mulsant) is an important natural enemy of tetranychid mites and functions as a biological control of these plant pests. The development, survival and reproduction of S. gilvifrons were studied when fed on three artificial diets. The components of the artificial diet that S. gilvifrons could be reared successfully on for one generation with no use of tetranychid mites were examined. Methods: Artificial diets consisted of sucrose, honey, royal jelly, agar, yeast, date palm pollen supplemented in different diets with hen’s egg yolk (AD1, as basic diet), Ephestia kuehniella Zeller eggs (AD2), or E. kuehniella eggs and 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (AD3). Results: Adults and larvae of Stethorusgilvifrons fed on AD1 had a shorter immature development and preoviposition periods than those fed on AD2 and AD3. The total number of deposited eggs was significantly higher for the females fed on AD3 than on the other diets. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) of S. gilvifrons was highest on AD3, followed by AD2, and AD1. Conclusion: Stethorus gilvifrons performed best on AD3, indicating the potential of this artificial diet for the mass rearing of this important predatory ladybird beetle.


Author(s):  
Yingchao Ji ◽  
Guohua Li ◽  
Chenggang Zhou ◽  
Shuyan Yin

Abstract Temperature is one of the main factors affecting insect growth, development and reproduction. The effects of temperatures (10, 15, 20, 25 and 30°C) on the development and reproduction of Cinara cedri Mimeur (Hemiptera: Aphidoidea: Lachnidae) fed on Cedrus deodara (Roxb.) G. Don were evaluated in this study. With the increase of temperature from 10 to 30°C, the development duration at different development stages gradually shortened. There was a significant positive correlation between the developmental rates and temperature, following a quadratic regression model. The lower developmental threshold temperature (C) and effective accumulated temperatures (K) for completing a generation were 4.13°C and 263.4 degree-days, respectively. The highest fecundity was observed at 20°C with 25.74 first-instar nymphs/female. Both the highest intrinsic rate of increase (r, 0.11 ± 0.03) and net reproduction rate (R0, 19.06 ± 2.05) were observed at 20°C, whereas the lowest values of r (0.05 ± 0.01) at 10°C and R0 (5.78 ± 0.88) at 30°C were observed. The results suggest that temperature significantly affects the biology of C. cedri and the optimal temperature for its development is 20°C.


Author(s):  
Limei He ◽  
Shengyuan Zhao ◽  
Abid Ali ◽  
Shishuai Ge ◽  
Kongming Wu

Abstract Ambient humidity can directly affect the water balance in insects. The migratory fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda Smith, has spread to more than 60 countries and regions in Africa, Asia, and Oceania that have a great difference in average ambient humidity. Understanding the effects of ambient humidity changes on its development, survival, and reproduction can help to predict its population dynamics in different habitats. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of atmospheric relative humidity (RH) on the development, survival, and reproduction and soil moisture on the pupation and emergence of fall armyworm. As a result, survival and pupal mass increased significantly with increasing RH. Among the five RHs tested, 80% RH was the most suitable for fall armyworm with the highest intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), and net reproduction rate (R0). The population growth at the different RHs in decreasing order was 80 > 100 > 60 > 40 > 20%. A relative moisture (RM) of soil from 6.80 to 47.59% was suitable for fall armyworm pupation, survival, and eclosion, but fall armyworm could not pupate normally in soil with 88.39 and 95.19% RM. The survival and emergence rate of fall armyworm pupae were reduced by irrigation that increased the RM after the mature larvae entered the soil. These findings may be helpful for refining laboratory rearing protocols, population forecasting, and management of fall armyworm.


2009 ◽  
Vol 277 (1683) ◽  
pp. 963-969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie E. Marshall ◽  
Brent J. Sinclair

While insect cold tolerance has been well studied, the vast majority of work has focused on the effects of a single cold exposure. However, many abiotic environmental stresses, including temperature, fluctuate within an organism's lifespan. Given that organisms may trade-off survival at the cost of future reproduction, we investigated the effects of multiple cold exposures on survival and fertility in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster . We found that multiple cold exposures significantly decreased mortality compared with the same length of exposure in a single sustained bout, but significantly decreased fecundity (as measured by r , the intrinsic rate of increase) as well, owing to a shift in sex ratio. This change was reflected in a long-term decrease in glycogen stores in multiply exposed flies, while a brief effect on triglyceride stores was observed, suggesting flies are reallocating energy stores. Given that many environments are not static, this trade-off indicates that investigating the effects of repeated stress exposure is important for understanding and predicting physiological responses in the wild.


2014 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 691-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
PP Marafeli ◽  
PR Reis ◽  
EC. da Silveira ◽  
GC Souza-Pimentel ◽  
MA. de Toledo

The predatory mite, Neoseiulus californicus(McGregor, 1954) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) is one of the principal natural enemies of tetranychid mites in several countries, promoting efficient control of those mites in several food and ornamental crops. Pest attacks such as that of the spider mite, Tetranychus urticaeKoch, 1836 (Acari: Tetranychidae), is one of the problems faced by farmers, especially in the greenhouse, due to the difficulty of its control with the use of chemicals because of the development of fast resistance making it hard to control it. The objective of this work was to study the life history of the predatory mite N. californicus as a contribution to its mass laboratory rearing, having castor bean plant [Ricinus communis L. (Euphorbiaceae)] pollen as food, for its subsequent use as a natural enemy of T. urticae on a cultivation of greenhouse rosebushes. The studies were carried out in the laboratory, at 25 ± 2°C of temperature, 70 ± 10% RH and a 14 hour photophase. The biological aspects and the fertility life table were appraised. Longevity of 32.9 days was verified for adult females and 40.4 days for males. The intrinsic rate of increase (rm) was 0.2 and the mean generation time (T) was 17.2 days. The population doubled every 4.1 days. The results obtained were similar to those in which the predatory mite N. californicus fed on T. urticae.


1981 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
pp. 968-977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek A. Roff

Murphy's hypothesis that variation in reproductive life span is an adaptive response to variation in the predictability of reproductive success is examined. Murphy's contention that this hypothesis explains the variation in reproductive life span within the clupeids is reexamined incorporating further data on the Peruvian anchovy (Engraulis ringens). A nonsignificant correlation is now obtained between reproductive life span and brood strength variation; thus, the hypothesis is called into question. An alternative explanation is presented that considers the interaction between life history parameters: because it is necessary for the intrinsic rate of increase to exceed zero, variation in one parameter must be associated with variation in at least one other parameter. In the clupeids it is noted that the age of maturity and reproductive life span vary in concert and it is suggested that this provides an explanation of variation in reproductive life span. These two hypotheses are examined using data on the family Pleuronectidae, the flatfish. No correlation exists between reproductive life span and the degree of fluctuation in brood strength but there is a significant correlation between reproductive life span and age of maturity. It is concluded that variation in reproductive life span within the flatfish group is not a response to variation in reproductive success but rather a correlate of variation in age of maturity.Key words: flatfish, Pleuronectidae, iteroparity, natural selection, reproduction, clupeids


Acarologia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-61
Author(s):  
Samah Ben Chaaban ◽  
Brahim Chermiti ◽  
Serge Kreiter

The old world date mite Oligonychus afrasiaticus is an important spider mite pest of the date palms Phoenix dactylifera L. mostly in North Africa and the Middle East. A population of the predaceous mite Typhlodromus (Anthoseius) athenas has been recently found in Tunisia in association with a decrease of O. afrasiaticus densities. The objective of this paper was to assess the development and reproduction abilities of T. ( A.) athenas on O. afrasiaticus under laboratory conditions at two temperatures: 27 and 32 °C. The results obtained show that females of T. (A.) athenas develop in 5 days at 27 °C and 4.1 days at 32 °C. The mean fecundity of T. (A.) athenas was 32.1 and 23.2 eggs per female at 27 and 32 °C, respectively. Life table parameters were stimated: the net reproductive rate (Ro) 27.9 and 17.9 eggs/female, the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) 0.322 and 0,344 female/female/day and the mean generation time (T) 10.3 and 8.4 days at 27 and 32 °C, respectively. At both temperatures tested, T. (A.) athenas intrinsic rate of increase was greater than that of O. afrasiaticus (rm = 0.213 at 32 °C,against rm = 0.166 day1 at 27 °C). Typhlodromus (A.) athenas would be able to develop at a wide range of temperatures feeding on O. afrasiaticus and seems to be able to potentially control it.


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