Abstract
The effect of high temperature on survival and longevity of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) female adults was studied in the laboratory by daily exposure of the beetles to 35°C (mean r.h. 52%) combined with 1-, 2- and 3-h intervals of thermal treatment at 38, 40, 42 and 44°C (r.h. 46–48%). Fifty percent of females survived until the 12th–13th day of the thermal treatment at 38°C (depending on the exposure time), the 2nd–10th day at 40°C for 1–2 h exposure and the 4th–5th day at 42°C for 1 h exposure. Survival was 25–38% on the 1st–2nd day of the thermal treatment at 40, 42 and 44°C for 3, 2 and 1 h of exposure, respectively. Three hours of exposure of female C. montrouzieri at 42°C and 2 h exposure at 44°C were lethal for the beetles. Mean longevity of the predator was 33.13 ± 1.22 days at 35°C and was significantly shorter as the temperature of the thermal treatments increased from 38o to 44°C. These results suggest that daily temperature regimes of 35°C combined with 38–40°C for 1–3 h are marginal for the survival and longevity of the C. montrouzieri, whereas temperatures above 42°C are lethal even at short exposure. These results can partly justify the inability of C. montrouzieri to be permanently established in Pakistan environments and could contribute to a pre-evaluation assay of its potential adaptability in such environmental systems.
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Acknowledgments
We are indebted to Professor George Stathas, Technological Educational Institute of Kalamata, Greece, for his scientific advice regarding the handling of the predator. We would like to thank Bio-insecta for providing C. montrouzieri for the experiment and Mr. Georgios Partsinevelos, Technician of the Biological Control Laboratory, B.P.I., for maintaining the mealybug culture. During his stay in B.P.I. (March 31 to July 6, 2010) for the purposes of this research work, the first author was the recipient of the International Research Support Initiative Program (IRSIP) Scholarship from the Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan.
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Solangi, G.S., Karamaouna, F., Kontodimas, D. et al. Effect of high temperatures on survival and longevity of the predator Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant. Phytoparasitica 41, 213–219 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-012-0281-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-012-0281-x