FRESH AND DRY WEIGHTS OF MONONYCHELLUS-TANAJOA (ACARI, TETRANYCHIDAE)- A FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION OF BIOMASS ACCUMULATION

The fresh and dry weights of each life stage of Mononychellus tanajoa (Bondar) were determined using grouped samples. The eggs, larvae and p rotonymphs averaged 0.637, 0.625 and 1.013 mug fresh weight, respectiv ely. Male and female deutonymphs averaged 1.209 and 2.715 mug, while m ale and female adults averaged 1.633 and 7.035 mug fresh weight, respe ctively. The dry matter content of M. tanajoa across all life stages f or both sexes averaged 31 %. The accumulation of biomass in male and f emale M. tanajoa is adequately described by logistic growth functions (with 87 and 98% explained variation, respectively). Maximum growth ra tes of 0.026 and 0.598 mug dry matter per day for males and females, r espectively, were estimated using these fitted functions.