Author
Legaspi, Jesusa | |
JERVIS, MARK - CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, UK | |
LEGASPI, JR., BENJAMIN - STATE OF FLORIDA |
Submitted to: Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Other Publication Acceptance Date: 10/5/2006 Publication Date: 12/13/2006 Citation: Legaspi, J.C., Jervis, M.A., Legaspi, Jr., B.C. 2006. Ovigeny in selected generalist predators. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: “Ovigeny” refers to the process of egg production in adult insects. “Pro-ovigenic” adult insects emerge with a fixed complement of mature eggs; whereas, “synovigenic” species continuously produce and develop eggs throughout adulthood. Very little work has been done on ovigeny in insect predators. We studied 4 predators such as Podisus maculiventris (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), Orius insidiosus (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae), Delphastus catalinae (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), and Geocoris punctipes (Heteroptera: Lygaeidae). We examined egg load at regular intervals (dependent on lifespan). Numbers of eggs laid were also recorded. In P. maculiventris, numbers of immature eggs increased with predator age whereas numbers of mature eggs declined providing clear indication of continuous egg production. Similar results were found in G. punctipes. In other predators, egg loads tended to increase with time, except in D. catalinae. However, numbers of eggs laid all increased with time. These findings suggest that egg production occurs during the adult stage in all these predators and that all predators studied were synovigenic to varying degrees. |