Laboratory Study of Some Biological Parameters and Life Table of Opuntia Cochineal Scale Insect, Dactylopius opuntiae (Cockerell) in Syria

Abstract

Opuntia cochineal scale insect, Dactylopius opuntiae caused rapid serious damage on cactus Opuntia ficus-indica in Syria, after the first report in 2019. This study was carried out to study some biological parameters and the life table of the insect under laboratory conditions. The developmental durations of nymph 1 and nymph 2 were on average 7.39 and 8.47 days, respectively. The development was completed in 15.86 days. The average pre-oviposition and oviposition periods were 15.1 and 36.3 days, respectively. The average fecundity of females was 566.1 individuals. The average eggs incubation period was 33.9 minutes. The hatching rate was 82%. In males, the developmental duration of nymph 1, nymph 2 and pupa were 8.15, 7.39 and 7.91 days, respectively. The insect development was completed in 23.28 days. The adult males lived only 3.3 days (on average) and the sex ratio (males:females) was 1:3. Life table investigations showed that the survival average (lx) was 0.55, the net reproduction rate (Ro) was 188 females/female, the mean generation time (T) was 50.42 days, the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) was 0.104 females/female/day, the finite rate of increase (ʎ) was 1.11 females/female/day and the duration of doubling time (DT) was 6.67 days. Based on these results, it was concluded that D. opuntiae had a potential to colonize the cactus plant rapidly, and the results obtained could be useful to understand pest biology and its dynamics in order to develop appropriate IPM programs.

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Keywords:

Opuntia cochineal Scale insect, Dactylopius opuntiae, cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, biology, life table.