Temperature dependent development of Phenacoccus solenopsis under laboratory conditions

Abstract

Cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is an important cotton pest in Punjab, India. Development of the immature stages (four instars in female and five in male) of P. solenopsis was observed at nine constant temperatures (15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 34, 35, 38, 40°C). Using the linear model, the lower temperature threshold (t min ) for development was estimated to be 4.93 and 2.95°C and the thermal constant (K) was 333.33 and 454.54 degree days for female and male, respectively. In addition, three nonlinear models (Lactin, Bieri-1 and 3rd order polynomial) were tested to describe the relationship between temperature and development rate and to estimate the upper developmental threshold (t max ) and the optimum temperature for development (t opt ). Our results proved that the Bieri-1 and Lactin models and provided the best fit (r 2 = 93,4 -99,9%) and estimated accurately all the three critical temperatures, ranged t min = 5.06 -5.25°C, t opt = 33.55 -33.60°C, t max = 39.99 -40.00°C, for the total development of females and t min = 2.82 -3.16°C, t opt = 34.01 -34.04°C, t max =40.00 -40.10°C, for the total development of males.

Biological Studies on Cotton Mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae) under Laboratory Conditions

“…After that eggs hatching to immature stages P. solenopsis exhibited variation in males and females at immature stages. Our findings were agreed with the results of Kumar and Kontodimas (2012) who reported that egg development times (mean ± SE) ranged from 3.40±0.24, 2.10±0.33 and 1.10±0.24 days at 20, 25 and 30˚C, respectively.…”

Life table parameters of cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley, 1898 (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) on four different plants

“…A number of studies of the biology of P. solenopsis have been conducted in recent times (Fand & Suroshe, 2015). The biology of P. solenopsis has been studied under different temperature conditions by several research groups (Kumar & Kontodimas, 2012;Prasad et al, 2012;Kumar et al, 2013). In addition, host plant suitability has been studied (Çalışkan et al, 2016;Dogar et al, 2018;Nagrare et al, 2018).…”