BIOECOLOGIA DE Ceraeochrysa cubana (Hagen, 1861) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) EM DIFERENTES DIETAS

Abstract

The green lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) are effective biological control agents in the larval stage and in the adult stage feed of pollen, nectar and honeydew. The specie Ceraeochrysa cubana (Hagen) stands out by virtue of predation, adaptation in different crops and ease of creation. The objective of this work was to evaluate the biological development of the immature stages of C. cubana on eggs of Anagasta kuehniella (Zeller) submitted to different diets and evaluate the efficiency of the use of different diets on reproductive potential, fertilization, fertility, morphometric aspects, and thermal requirements of the embryonic stage of C. cubana submitted to mass rearing. The work was conducted in the Laboratory of Entomology of the Federal University of Paraíba, at temperature of 25 ± 2ºC, and RH 70 ± 10%, with photo phase of 12 h. The C. cubana larvae were fed with eggs of A. kuehniella submitted to different types of feeds: T1 – corn flour + flour + brewer’s yeast; T2 – transgenic corn flour + flour + brewer’s yeast; T3 – breadcrumbs + brewer’s yeast; T4 - breadcrumbs + flour + brewer’s yeast; T5 – rice flour + brewer’s yeast; T6 - rice flour + flour + brewer’s yeast; T7 – oatmeal + brewer’s yeast; and T8 - oatmeal + flour + brewer’s yeast. We evaluated the duration of larval period, pre pupal + pupal period, and viability of pupal stages of C. cubana. Diets for adults were constituted of honey + brewer’s yeast; molasses + brewer’s yeast; honey + beekeeping pollen; and molasses + beekeeping pollen, proportion 1:1. Were evaluated the longevity, pre oviposition, oviposition and post oviposition, ability to posture, morphometric aspects of eggs, embryonic period, and viability of eggs of C. cubana at different temperatures. The data were analyzed and submitted to Tukey test (α=0.05) and the embryonic period data to the polynomial regression test. The use of oatmeal in the diet to A. kuehniella is not indicated to obtain eggs, and the transgenic corn flour in the diets to the Mediterranean flour moth don’t show deleterious effects to the C. cubana larvae submitted to mass rearing; breadcrumbs provides low pupae viabilities to C. cubana. The molasses, associated with brewer’s yeast, is an alternative compound to formulate diets to the adults and the pollen is not recommended to fed C. cubana because affects the length and weight of the eggs; is recommended to the embryonic stages of C. cubana temperatures between 25ºC and 31ºC.