Diet and growth parameters of the zoophytophagous predator Engytatus varians (Hemiptera: Miridae)
2019
Palma-Castillo, Luis Jesús | Mena-Mociño, Laura Verónica | Martínez, Ana Mabel | Pineda, Samuel | Gómez-Ramos, Benjamín | Chavarrieta-Yáñez, Juan Manuel | Figueroa, José Isaac
Engytatus varians (Distant) (Hemiptera: Miridae) was observed to prey on eggs and nymphs of the tomato psyllid Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc.) (Hemiptera: Triozidae) on tomato plants, Solanum lycopersicum L., in Tarímbaro, Michoacán, Mexico, in 2014. In the present study, several growth parameters of this predator were assessed under three different diets (second-third [N₂-N₃] instars of B. cockerelli + eggs of the grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella Olivier [Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae] + 5% sugar solution; N₂-N₃ instars of B. cockerelli + S. cerealella eggs; and N₂-N₃ instars of B. cockerelli alone). In females, among the three diet groups, the group fed N₂-N₃ instars of B. cockerelli + S. cerealella eggs + 5% sugar solution showed the highest longevity (46.6 ± 2.4 days), probability of survival (100% up to day 26), fecundity (180.5 ± 8.5 eggs/female), oviposition rate (OR, 3.9 ± 0.2 eggs/female/day), intrinsic rate of increase (rₘ, 0.118 ± 0.0001/female/day), net reproductive rate (R₀, 107.8 ± 0.2 female eggs/female), and mean generation time (T, 39.6 ± 0.01 days). Our results indicate that the sugar solution improved the physical conditions and population dynamics of E. varians and that sugar could be used to improve the rearing of this predator.
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