Biology, behaviour and functional response of Cydnocoris gilvus Brum. (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) a predator of Tea Mosquito Bug (Helopeltis antonii Sign.) on cashew in India

Authors

  • K.K. Srikumar
  • P.S. Bhat
  • T.N. Raviprasad
  • K. Vanitha

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3815.5864-70

Keywords:

Anacardium occidentale, developmental stages, Galleria mellonella, Helopeltis antonii, predator.

Abstract

Helopeltis spp. (Hemiptera: Miridae) are major sucking pests of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) in India. Cydnocoris gilvus Brum. (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) is recorded as a potential predator of Helopeltis spp. Biology, mating behaviour and functional response of C. gilvus were studied by rearing in the laboratory (temperature 26-28 0C; relative humidity 89-94 %) with wax moth, Galleria mellonella, larvae. Based on laboratory rearing, the fecundity was 56.33 eggs in 8.67 batches per female. The average stadial period was 37.3 days, with a maximum of 11 days for V instar and a minimum of 4.5 days for III instars. C. gilvus took 45.5 days to complete a generation. The innate capacity of natural increase was 0.07 with a gross reproduction of 67.8 females per female. The adult exhibited a pin and jab mode of predation in a sequence of actions. The sequential action of mating comprised arousal (1.32 min), approach (12.30 min), riding over (140.48 min) and copulation (85.40 min). The predator responded to increasing prey density by killing more prey than at lower prey densities

Downloads

Published

26-06-2014

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 6 (2014)

Section

Short Communications

License

Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT.  This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership.  Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.