Developmental biology of vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae), and its parasitoid Coccidoxenoides perminutus (Timberlake) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae)
Article
Life table analyses were conducted for Planococcus ficus and Coccidoxenoides perminutus at five temperatures between 18 and 30°C. The intrinsic rates of increase (rm) for both species were similar, reaching maxima at 25°C (rm = 0.169 for P. ficus; rm = 0.149 for C. perminutus). The net replacement rate (Ro) of P. ficus was higher than that of C. perminutus at all five temperatures tested. The Ro of P. ficus reached a maximum at 21°C (308.87 days) and that of C. perminutus at 25°C (69.94 days). The lower and upper threshold temperatures for development of P. ficus were estimated at 16.59 and 35.61°C, respectively. The lower threshold for development of C. perminutus was 8.85°C. The upper threshold could not be determined as there was no turning point on the graph. Both insects were well adapted to temperatures in the Western Cape Province.