Effect of temperature on development and reproduction of Neoseiulus barkeri (Acari: Phytoseiidae) fed on Aleuroglyphus ovatus

Abstract

The effect of five constant temperatures (16, 20, 24, 28 and 32°C) on the development, survival and reproduction of Neoseiulus barkeri Hughes fed on Aleuroglyphus ovatus Toupeau (Acari: Acaridae) was examined in the laboratory at 85% relative humidity. Development time of different immature stages decreased with increasing temperature, total egg-to-adult development time varied from 5.0 ± 0.13 to 17.5 ± 0.29 days. The lower thermal threshold for development was 9.7 ± 2.48°C and the thermal constant from egg to adult was 111.1 ± 12.34 degree-days. Pre- and post-oviposition period and female longevity all shortened as temperature increased. The longest oviposition period was observed at 24°C with 20.4 ± 1.13 days. At 20, 24, 28 and 32°C, mated females laid on average 0.7 ± 0.08, 1.5 ± 0.04, 1.6 ± 0.11 and 1.5 ± 0.11 eggs per day, respectively, but no eggs were laid at 16°C. Both the maximum fecundity (30.9 eggs per female) and the highest intrinsic rate of increase (r (m) = 0.166) were obtained at 28°C. The results of this study indicated that a mass rearing of N. barkeri with A. ovatus as prey is feasible at the appropriate temperature.

Incidence of predatory phytoseiid mites in Saudi Arabia: new records and a key to the Saudi Arabian species (Acari: Mesostigmata: Gamasina)

“…This could be due to the higher humidity level applied for E. scutalis. Adult female longevity for N. barkeri (35.6 at 25 C and 27.4 at 35 C) against O. afrasiaticus was close to that reported against A. ovatus (34.6 at 24 C and 23.7 at 32 C) (Xia et al 2012).…”

“…A longer life cycle (9.5 days) was recorded when C. negevi fed on T. urticae eggs (Momen 1999). On the other hand, development of N. barkeri immature females was relatively longer in our study (9.6 days at 25 C) than reported when fed on Aleuroglyphus ovatus (7.8 d at 24 C) (Xia et al 2012). These results show that A. ovatus provides N. barkeri with higher reproductive capability than does O. afrasiaticus.…”

“…In case of N. barkeri against Thrips tabaci at 25 C, the life table parameters (R 0 , T, r m, DT) values were 27. 78, 19.10, 0.22, 3.15, respectively (Bonde 1989), on A. ovatus, at 24 C, the parameters were 20.14, 20.07, 0.14, 5.10 (Xia et al 2012) and on T. urticae 22.02, 13.95, 0.22, 3.13 (Jafari et al 2010) while in the present study they were 10. 44, 17.30, 0.14, 4.95.…”

Prey suitability of Tuta absoluta larvae (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) for three predatory phytoseiid mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae) under laboratory conditions

“…Influence of Tuta absoluta larvae on adult longevity, survival, oviposition and consumption rate in multiple-mated females of three predatory phytoseiid species 2007). A higher fecundity (30.6 and 30.8 eggs / F) was reported when N. barkeri fed Aleuroglyphus ovatus Toupeau (Acari: Acaridae) at 24 o C and 28 o C (Xia et al, 2012). Kamburov (1971) confirmed poor development and reproduction of A. largoensis when fed on scale crawlers of Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell) and Chrysomphalus aunidum (L.) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae).…”

Performance of Five Species of Phytoseiid Mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on Bactrocera zonata Eggs (Diptera: Tephritidae) as a Factitious Food

“…For N. barkeri, B. zonata egg diet resulted in a total oviposition lower than those of females fed with nymphs of T. tabaci, T. urticae, Aceria dioscoridis (Soliman and AbouAwad) (Acari: Eriophyidae) (main food) / eggs of E. kiehniella and T. absoluta (factitious food) (Bonde, 1989;Momen, 1995;Momen and El-Laithy, 2007;Momen et al, 2013), while a comparable total number of eggs laid was reported on a diet of A. ovatus (Xia et al, 2012). For A. largoensis, our results clearly show that eggs of B. zonata are an acceptable food resource, promoting oviposition greater than that obtained with diets of tenupalpid and tetranychid mites and pollen grains (Carrillo et al, 2010).…”