Life History and Functional Response of Two Species of Reduviids (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) in Tea1
2017
Srikumar, Kodakkadan K. | Sukumaran, Smitha | Kumar, Bastian S. | Radhakrishnan, Balakrishnan
In recent years, Helopeltis theivora Waterhouse (Hemiptera: Miridae) has emerged as an important pest of tea, Camellia sinensis L.O. (Kuntze) (Theaceae), in southern India. We are currently developing an ecologically and economically viable integrated pest management (IPM) program against H. theivora. In this study, we documented the biology, life table parameters, and functional response of Epidaus bicolor Distant and Sycanus collaris F. (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Sycanus collaris produced greater numbers of eggs, required a longer incubation period, and had greater adult longevity than E. bicolor. The innate capacities of natural increase (rc) were 0.091 and 0.192 females/female/day, and the gross reproduction (mx) rates were 69.3 and 145.2 females/female, for E. bicolor and S. collaris, respectively. Both reduviid species exhibited Type II functional response. Mass rearing of S. collaris was more successful than E. bicolor, and no cannibalism was observed during rearing. We concluded that S. collaris is a promising natural enemy for H. theivora and could be incorporated into IPM programs in tea plantations.
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