Biology of Proprioseiopsis rotendus (Acari: Phytoseiidae) Reared on Tetranychus urticae (Acari: Tetranychidae) Or Pollen

Abstract

Proprioseiopsis rotendus (Muma) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) developed and oviposited when provided with all life stages of Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), and pollen of ice plant, Malephora crocea (Jaquin), live oak, Quercus virginiana Miller, or cattail, Typha latifolia (L.), as food sources under laboratory conditions of 26 ± 1°C and 75-85% RH. Developmental times on the different foods were 6.58 ± 0.36, 8.17 ± 0.92, 7.29 ± 0.51, and 7.41 ± 0.89 d (mean ± SD) for females, and 6.12 ± 0.49, 7.96 ± 0.94, 6.68 ± 0.72, and 6.75 ± 0.60 d for males, respectively. When T. urticae was provided as the food source, the highest net reproductive rate (Ro = 23.69), female longevity (45.7 ± 6.26 d), mean generation time (T = 19.54), intrinsic rate of increase (r m = 0.162), and finite rate of increase (e rm = 1.176) were obtained. Pollen of M. crocea was the superior food source with Ro = 21.73, female longevity = 44.1 ± 13.3 d, T = 22.57, r m = 0.136, and e rm = 1.46, followed by Q. virginiana. Cattail pollen was the least favorable food source tested with Ro = 15.08, female longevity = 56.1 ± 4.83 d, T = 23.96, r m = 0.113, and e rm = 1.120. The sex ratio was 57 ± 1:43 ± 1 (female:male) for all diets tested. Male longevity was 47.3 ± 6.08 d when fed T. urticae compared with 26.9-35.2 d when fed pollen. P. rotendus adult females cannibalized newly hatched larvae. The mean daily ovipositional rate was 1 per d (max. 2) when fed on T. urticae or 0.5 per d (max. 1) when fed on cattail pollen. Duration of the oviposition period was 5 times longer than the generation time (egg to egg) of P. rotendus.