Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:33:20.534Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of temperature and humidity on the oviposition rate of Tribolium castaneum (Hbst.) (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

R. W. Howe
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The rate of oviposition of isolated pairs of Tribolium castaneum (Hbst.) on finely divided wheatfeed was measured over the entire adult life at 25°C. and 70 per cent. R.H. It was also measured over a period of seven weeks from the start of oviposition at 30 and 70 per cent. R.H. at 25, 30 and 35°C., respectively, at 70 per cent. R.H. only at 22·5, 27·5, 32·5 and 37·5°C. and at 2 per cent. R.H. at 30°C.

At 25°C. and 70 per cent. R.H. each female laid, on the average, 360 eggs at the rate of 2·5 per day for about one hundred days and then at a decreasing rate for the next hundred days. When this experiment was repeated over a seven-week period, each female laid on average about 3 eggs per day. At 70 per cent. R.H., the optimum temperature for oviposition was about 32·5°C., at which about 11 eggs per day per female were laid over the seven-week period. These rates fell to just over 2 per day at 22·5°C. Only one egg was laid by 15 females at 20°C. At 37·5°C. the rate was about 10 eggs per day initially but it declined to about 3 per day by the end of seven weeks, whereas at lower temperatures the decline in laying was slight. Compared with 70 per cent. R.H., the oviposition rate at 30 per cent. R.H. was almost halved at 25°C., but was only slightly reduced at 35°C. At 30°C. and 2 per cent. R.H., females laid well, averaging over 4 eggs per female per day. The periodic provision of water for drinking at 25°C. and 30 per cent. R.H. depressed oviposition.

The preoviposition period was 2 days at 37·5°C. and increased steadily at lower temperatures to 10 days at 22·5°C. It also varied more between females at low temperatures.

The number of eggs recovered in this work was lower than the number obtained by Park & Frank (1948), who used considerably more food in their oviposition chambers. In this work, some eggs were eaten by the adult beetles. However, the innate capacity for increase of the species calculated on these data is extremely high, and could not be maintained for long because of the cannibalistic habits of this species.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , July 1962 , pp. 301 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1962

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Birch, L. C. (1953). Experimental background to the study of the distribution and abundance of insects. I. The influence of temperature, moisture, and food on the innate capacity for increase of three grain beetles.—Ecology 34 pp. 698–711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birch, L. C., Park, T. & Frank, M. B. (1951). The effect of intraspecies and interspecies competition on the fecundity of two species of flour beetles.—Evolution 5 pp. 116–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Faria Estacio, F. L. B. B. De S. (1953). Contribuição para o estudo da entomofauna dos produtos armazenados. Os Tribolium spp. (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae).—119 pp. Lisbon, Univ. Tec., Inst. sup. Agron.Google Scholar
Good, N. E. (1933). Biology of the flour beetles, Tribolinm confusum Duv. and T. ferrugincum Fab.—J. agric. Res. 46 pp. 327–334.Google Scholar
Good, N. E. (1936). The flour beetles of the genus Tribolium.—Tech. Bull. U.S. Dep. Agric. no. 498, 58 pp.Google Scholar
Howe, R. W. (1953a). Studies on beetles of the family Ptinidae. VIII. The intrinsic rate of increase of some Ptinid beetles.—Ann. appl. Biol. 40 pp. 121–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, R. W. (1953b). The rapid determination of the intrinsic rate of increase of an insect population.—Ann. appl. Biol. 40 pp. 134–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, R. W. (1956). The effect of temperature and humidity on the rate of development and mortality of Tribolium castancum (Herbst) (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae).—Ann. appl. Biol. 44 pp. 356–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, R. W. (1957). A laboratory study of the cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (F.) (Col., Anobiidae) with a critical review of the literature on its biology.—Bull. ent. Res. 48 pp. 9–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khalifa, A. & Badawy, A. (1955). Biological studies on Tribolium confusum Duv., Tribolium castaneum Hbst., and Latheticus oryzae Waterh. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae).—Bull. Soc. ent. Egypte 39 pp. 351–373.Google Scholar
Park, T. & Davis, M. B. (1945). Further analysis of fecundity in the flour beetles, Tribolium confusum Duval and Tribolium castaneum Herbst.—Ann. ent. Soc. Amer. 38 pp. 237–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, T. & Frank, M. B. (1948). The fecundity and development of the flour beetles, Tribolium confusum and Tribolium castaneum, at three constant temperatures.—Ecology 29 pp. 368–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rich, E. R. (1956). Egg cannibalism and fecundity in Tribolium.—Ecology 37 pp. 109–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, M. E. (1951). Control of humidity with potassium hydroxide, sulphuric acid, or other solutions.—Bull. ent. Res. 42 pp. 543–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar