The life history of Theridion incanescens Simon, 1890 is studied for the first time in Egypt. T. incanescens was first recorded from Egypt in 2012. It was collected from Aloe vera cultivated in Giza, mango, citrus and grape trees at El-Sharqia & Ismalia. The individuals were reared under laboratory conditions and were fed every two days on motile stages of Tetranychus urticae (Koch, 1836) until reaching to subadults, after that they were fed on Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). The males and females reached maturity in the fifth instar after 41-47 & 34-52 days respectively. Adult longevity, life span, fecundity of female and food consumption were studied too. The mating behaviour of T. incanescens was described. It began with courtship followed by four copulatory sequences. Total duration of the mating behaviour was 3:05 hour.
Entomology Journal publishes original research papers and reviews from any entomological discipline or from directly allied fields in ecology, behavioral biology, For several years the palm dust mite, Oligonychus afrasiaticus (McGregor) has been an economically important pest of date palm. Biology and life table parameters of the date dust mite, O. afrasiaticus were studied on fronds of three date palm cultivars: Bartamoda (dry), Sewi (semi dry) and Zaghlol (soft) at laboratory conditions of 30 and 35°C & 60 ±5% R.H. and 16L. The results revealed that, the longest and shortest oviposition period and total longevity of O. afrasiaticus females were recorded at 30°C (22.5 & 26.90 days) on Sewi and 35°C (6.9 & 10.0 days) on Zaghlol variety, respectively. The fecundity increased as temperature decreased from 30.5, 37.45 and 25.5 eggs at 30°C to 27.8, 29.15 and 15.94 eggs at 35°C on Bartamoda, Sewi and Zaghlol varieties, respectively. The lowest and highest values of the intrinsic rate of increase (r m ) were 0.107 and 0.229 individuals/female/day that obtained at 30 and 35°C on Zaghlol and Sewi varieties, respectively. The mean generation time (T) significantly decreased from 23.6, 22.4 and 22.76 days to 13.08, 11.90 and 12.26 days with increasing temperature from 30°C to 35°C, on Bartamoda, Sewi and Zaghlol varieties, respectively. The results of this study indicate that O. afrasiaticus could increase rapidly when Sewi and Bartamoda fronds serve as a food source more than Zaghlol date palm variety.
Theridion spinitarse was described as a new species for the first time from female by O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1876, then Knoflach, et al. (2009 re-described this species from female specimens. Spider specimens were collected from mango trees in Fayoum Governorate and from grapes at El-Sadat sector of Menoufia Governorate. Individuals of the spider were rearedand biological aspects were studied under laboratory conditions ( 25°C and 60-70% R.H). Individuals of this species fed every two days on second larval stage of Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval 1833). Males and females reached maturity in the fifth spiderling stage after 67 & 72.27 days, respectively. Adult longevity, lifespan, fecundity of female and food consumption were also studied.
Eutetranychus orientalis (Klein) (Tetranychidae) is a worldwide polyphagous mite causing economic damage to several crops. A laboratory experiments was carried out to evaluate the pathogenicity of two entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin, on E. orientalis at three spore concentrations (10 6 , 10 7 , and 10 8 conidia ml -1 ). Probit analysis indicated that B. bassiana was significantly effective and more virulent (LC 90 = 1.34×10 8 conidia ml -1 ) than M. anisopliae (LC 90 = 2.46×10 11 conidia ml -1 ), with relative toxicity of 100: 0.2. Toxicity of two essential oils: neem (Azadirachta indica A.Juss. (Meliaceae) and caraway, Carum carvi L. (Apiaceae) against E. orientals was also evaluated at concentrations of 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75%. Based on LC 90 , caraway oil caused higher mortality percentage of E. orientalis females than neem oil after 72 h (i.e., LC 90 = 0.198 and 0.753%, respectively) with relative toxicity of 100: 26.30. Oviposition deterrent index increased as concentration increase. It was highest for caraway as 59.91 and 39.2% for neem at concentration of 0.75%. Repellency effect increased as oil concentration increase, and decreased as time increase. Environmentally suitable options for biocontrol of E. orientalis might consider the obtained results.
Behavioral and biological aspects of the pholcid spider, Micropholcus fauroti (Simon, 1887) (Araneae: Pholcidae) at 26±2°C and 75±10% RH were studied. Female deposited its eggs in webbing basket, and carried it all around through eggs incubation period. Newly hatched spiderlings are very transparent and delicate. They stayed in the basket and molted inside or shortly after getting out of it. This spider went through eight spiderlings to reach adult as female and seven ones as male. First spiderling was noticed to molt for the following one without feeding. Second to fourth spiderlings were reared on Tetranychus urticae motile stages, while later ones on Ephestia kuehniella moths. Males developed faster than females during 187.53 and 208.81 days, respectively. Generation time expanded to 212.4 days. Adult females lived longer than males (i.e. 60.00 and 45.53 days, respectively). Life span averaged 268.8 and 233.1 days for females and males, respectively. Survival ratio of individuals reached maturity was 72%. Sex ratio was 0.682 females/total. Females' fecundity was 68.26 eggs/female. Female produced a mean of 4.02 sacs; each contained an average of 12.95 eggs/ sac. Mean number of eggs/sac was 13.22, 22.44, 14.51, 8.56 and 6.00 eggs/sac for first to fifth one, respectively. Intervals between egg sacs' deposition averaged 12.9 days. Mean consumption of T. urticae was 325.4 and 345.7 during second to fourth spiderlings for females and males, respectively. Obtained data indicated life table parameters of M. fauroti under studied conditions as mean generation time (T) = 232.2 days, net reproductive rate (Ro) = 40.174, intrinsic rate of increase (rm) = 0.477 per month and exp (rm) = 1.611 individual/individual/month, as this organism is slow developing one. Mean consumption of E. kuehniella was 326.58 and 238.23 moths/individual, for female and male, respectively, during fifth spiderling to adult stage. Mean consumption of E. kuehniella was 175.1 and 69.8 moths for females and males, respectively, during adult stage longevity.
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