Certain biological aspects of the copra mite, Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank, 1781) (Acari: Acaridae), extracted from termite nests.

Eraky, Sayed A. M.; Salman, Ahmed M. A.; Desoky, Abd El-Aleem; Mohamed, Hoda E.

doi:10.21608/jsasj.2024.392371

Certain biological aspects of the copra mite, Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank, 1781) (Acari: Acaridae), extracted from termite nests.

Document Type : Research and Review Papers

Authors

¹ Plant Protection Department Faculty of Agriculture Assiut University Assiut Egypt

² Plant Protection Department Faculty of Agriculture Sohag University Sohag 82524 Egypt

10.21608/jsasj.2024.392371

Abstract

Several biological aspects and life table parameters of Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank), commonly known as the copra mite, were studied at a temperature of 30± 2°C and relative humidity of 45 ± 5%. The mites were reared on different food diets including yeast, wheat germ, and wheat flour. The findings revealed that T. putrescentiae successfully completed its life cycle when fed on all three diets. Both male and female mites exhibited the longest life cycles on wheat flour, with durations of 9.71 and 9.95 days, respectively. Conversely, the shortest life cycles were observed when the mites were fed on wheat germ, with durations of 6.31 and 6.85 days for males and females, respectively. The T. putrescentiae female demonstrated the longest lifespan of 29.53 days when fed on wheat flour, whereas the shortest lifespan of 21.30 days was recorded when fed on yeast. The highest average total fecundity was observed on yeast, with a value of 391.5 eggs / female and a daily rate was 19.29 eggs/ female / day. The sex ratio, expressed as a percentage of females to the total population, ranged from 50 to 60%. The intrinsic rate of increase (rm) was the highest on yeast, with a value of 0.367 individuals / female /r day, while the lowest value of 0.187 individuals / female / day was recorded on wheat flour. The mites exhibited the ability to double their population in the shortest time (1.88 days) when provided with yeast as their food source, whereas the longest doubling time (3.70 days) was observed on wheat flour. In conclusion, previous studies have shown the ability of this species to coexist in a wide range of environmental conditions and the ability to feed on a wide range of foodstuffs, in addition to its high fecundity, which causes a lot of damage where it is found. In the other side, the current study demonstrated that yeast resulted in the highest fecundity among the mites, suggesting its potential use for mass production of T. putrescentiae.

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