Rearing and life table of reduviid predator Rhynocoris marginatus Fab. (Het., Reduviidae) on Spodoptera litura Fab. (Lep., Noctuidae) larvae

The tobacco armyworm, Spodoptera litura Fab., a serious pest of many cultiv ated crops was evaluated as prey for the reduviid predator, Rhynocoris marg inatus Fab. The development, sex ratio, fecundity, hatchability and adult l ongevity of R. marginatus were investigated in the laboratory. Moreover, a life table was constructed for this predator. Observations clearly indicate d that total developmental period of this predator was 46.71 +/- 1.58 days. In sex ratio, no significant difference was observed between male and fema le predators. The pre-oviposition period lasted for 18.64 +/- 0.76 clays an d it was 6.31 times shorter than the oviposition period. Female predators l ived longer (128.04 +/- 8.48 days) than males (82.84 +/- 11.09 days). The t otal number of eggs laid per female predator in its life span was 405.28 +/ - 22.15 eggs and the incubation period lasted for 6.81 +/- 0.10 days. Life- table studies showed that the intrinsic rate of increase was 0.063 female/d ay. The population multiplied 292.28 times in the cohort generation time of 103.933 days.