A comparison of selected plant pollens for rearingEuseius mesembrinus(Acari: Phytoseiidae)

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Abstract
Effects on development, survivorship and reproduction of Euseius mesembrinus (Dean) were studied in the laboratory using nine different plant pollens: ice plant, Malephora crocea (Jacquin); live oak, Quercus virginiana Miller; castor bean, Ricinus communis L.; cattail, Typha latifolia L.; Spanish needle, Bidens pilosa L.; grapefruit, Citrus paradisi (L.) Osbeck; ‘Sunburst’ tangerine, C. reticulata Blanco (hybrid); ‘Hamlin’ orange, C. sinensis (L.) Osbeck; and pummelo, C. grandis (L.) Osbeck. Following eclosion, 100% of adults developed in 7.6 to 7.9 days when pollen of ice plant, live oak, castor bean or cattail was provided as single food sources at 27 ± 1°C. A total of 30.8 and 30.4 eggs per female were obtained when ice plant and live oak pollens, respectively, were provided compared to 23.0 and 19.2 eggs per female when castor bean and cattail pollens were used. Life table parameters were: mean generation time (T) = 12.38; net reproductive rate (R o) = 17.17; intrinsic rate of natural increase (r m) = 0.2296 and finite rate of increase (λ) = 1.258 when live oak pollen was used as the food source compared with T = 12.47, R o = 17.79, r m = 0.2308 and λ = 1.260 for ice plant pollen. Castor bean and cattail pollens are available as potential food sources for E. mesembrinus, but they are not as effective as ice plant or live oak pollens. Larvae of E. mesembrinus required 8.5 days to develop to adults, while only 72% of the larvae survived when B. pilosa pollen was used as the food source. Each female deposited an average of 0.45 eggs per day during the first 5 days of oviposition. Citrus pollens including C. paradisi, C. reticulata, C. sinensis and C. grandis are available as food sources for E. mesembrinus, and survivorship ranged from 64 to 84%. Developmental time was prolonged (8.8 to 12.5 days) and fecundity was also very low (0.10 to 0.67 eggs/female/day) during the first 5 days of oviposition compared with both ice plant and live oak pollens.