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Abstract

The Sunn-pest, Eurygaster integriceps Puton (Heteroptera: Scutelleridae), is the most important insect pest of wheat and barley in Iran. A demographic study was carried out in order to determine the effect of temperature on life history parameters of the pest. Life tables were constructed at four constant temperatures: 22, 25, 27, and 30 ± 1° C using Mahdavi wheat kernels as food. Finite and intrinsic rates of population increase, gross and net reproductive rates, intrinsic rates of birth and death, generation time, doubling time, and lifetime female fecundity all varied significantly among temperatures. The intrinsic rate of natural increase, r_m, increased linearly with temperature and was estimated to be 0.0126, 0.0381, 0.0541, and 0.0789 females/female/day, respectively, at the above-mentioned temperatures. Generation time ranged from 121 days at 22° C to 40 days at 30° C. Net replacement rate was significantly lower at 22° C than at other temperatures (4.6 vs. 22.2 to 25.8 females/female/generation). Lifetime female fecundity ranged from 123.1 at 22° C to 209.4 at 30° C. The thermal threshold for post-diapause pre-reproductive development was estimated to be 20° C, and 66.8 degree-days were required for its completion.

Keywords: degree-day, intrinsic rate of increase, net replacement rate

Correspondence: ^ashiranipour@tabrizu.ac.ir
Associate Editor: J.P. Michaud was editor of this paper.

Received: 3 September 2008 | Accepted: 13 October 2009 | Published: 13 July 2010

Copyright: This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.  

ISSN: 1536-2442 | Volume 10, Number 106

Iranipour S, Pakdel AK, Radjabi G. 2010. Life history parameters of the Sunn pest, Eurygaster integriceps, held at four constant temperatures. Journal of Insect Science 10:106, available online: insectscience.org/10.106