BIOLOGY OF PROPRIOSEIOPSIS-ROTENDUS (ACARI, PHYTOSEIIDAE) REARED ON TETRANYCHUS-URTICAE (ACARI, TETRANYCHIDAE) OR POLLEN

Proprioseiopsis rotendus (Muma) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) developed and ov iposited when provided with all life stages of Tetranychus urticae Koc h (Acari: Tetranychidae), and pollen of ice plant, Malephora crocea (J aquin), live oak, Quercus virginiana Miller, or cattail, Typha latifol ia (L.), as food sources under laboratory conditions of 26 +/- 1 degre es 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, a nd 6.75 +/- 0.60 d for males, respectively. When T urticae was provide d as the food source, the highest net reproductive rate (R(o) = 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 increa se (e(rm) = 1.176) were obtained. Pollen of M. crocea was the superior food source with R(o) = 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. Ca ttail pollen was the least favorable food source tested with R(o) = 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 a ll diets tested. Male longevity was 47.3 +/- 6.08 d when fed T. urtica e 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.