<p><strong>Age and size at maturity in <em>Tyrophagus curvipenis</em> (Acari: Acaridae) when fed on three different diets</strong></p>

Abstract

Tyrophagus curvipenis Fain & Fauvel, 1993 (Acari: Acaridae) has been reported from a very broad range of plant and animal hosts in various habitats in Australia, France, Portugal and New Zealand. However, except host/habitat records, there have been no reports of its life history and other aspects of biology. In this laboratory study conducted at 25°C, T. curvipenis were kept individually and fed three different diets. The time from egg to adult mite was recorded and size of resulting adult mites was measured. T. curvipenis completed development on dry yeast in 10 days, about half of time needed when fed rolled oats and 42% of time needed when fed wheat flour. The length and width of the prodorsal shield was used to determine adult size. Adult females fed yeast were 18% larger than those fed on oats and 25% larger than those fed on wheat flour. Adult males were 14% larger on yeast than on oats, and 27% larger on yeast than on wheat flour. Faster development and larger size at maturity on yeast are correlated with the higher protein content of yeast compared to that in oats and wheat. Males were smaller and developed faster than females on all three diets.

Immature development and survival of Neoseiulus cucumeris (Oudemans) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on eggs of Tyrophagus curvipenis (Fain & Fauvel) (Acari: Acaridae)

“…N. cucumeris population could possibly establish readily as long as it was provided with T. curvipenis when the pest density was low at the very beginning of biological control or when pollen is rare on the host plants. Furthermore, T. curvipenis has not been observed to cause any damage to the plants (Ye & Zhang 2014). Thus, releasing T. curvipenis is costeffective in terms of investment (Xie et al 2018).…”

“…The modified Munger cell (Ye and Zhang 2014) consisted of three plexiglass slides (3.8×2×0.3 cm) and a piece of black cloth. The middle slide, which was cone shaped (top diameter 10 mm and bottom diameter 7 mm), served as the cell, and the bottom slide was covered with a black cloth (to facilitate observation) and another plexiglass cone shape (to ensure the cell was well ventilated).…”

“…The middle slide, which was cone shaped (top diameter 10 mm and bottom diameter 7 mm), served as the cell, and the bottom slide was covered with a black cloth (to facilitate observation) and another plexiglass cone shape (to ensure the cell was well ventilated). The top slide was covered with a transparent glass fixed with two metal clips (Ye and Zhang 2014).…”

“…This species closely resembles Tyrophagus putriscentiae (Schrank) in morphology but differs in biology. It is more commonly found on living plants rather than in stored products and no obvious damage caused by this species to plants has been observed up to now (Ye and Zhang 2014). It was found by Zhang (2003) that the population of N. cucumeris increased with the presence of T. curvipenis.…”

A Rapid and Cost-Effective Identification of Invertebrate Pests at the Borders Using MinION Sequencing of DNA Barcodes

“…The Arachnida specimens identified to species level with over 97% sequence identity included Tyrophagus curvipenis, Tetranychus urticae, Tetranychus ludeni and Aculops lycopersici. Tyrophagus curvipenis can cause damage to stored food and economic plants [23,24]. Aculops lycopersici is a widespread pest of solanaceous plants, such as tomato, eggplant and capsicum [25,26].…”