The first report of the genus and species of Capsus cinctus (Hem.: Miridae) from Iran

During 2005, a survey was conducted on the Miridae fauna of Urmia region and environs and a large number of species belonging to this family were collected. Among them, 19 specimens were identified as Capsus cinctus (Kolenati), which the genus and species is the first report for Iran. The identification was confirmed by R. Linnavuori, Finland. The species was collected on weeds, especially Bromus sp. in June

Biology and demography of Trissolcus basalis (Hym.: Scelionidae) on eggs of two different hosts

A study was taken up to investigate the biological and population attributes of Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston) on eggs of Eurygaster integriceps Puton (EI) and Graphosuma lineatum (L.) (GL). First, immature development, time of adult eclosion, offspring sex ratio and rate of emergence were recorded by random selection of 25 parasitized egg masses of each host (350 eggs with 0-4 h old) separately at 25 ± 0.5 °C, 65 ± 5% RH and 16: 8 L: D. In addition, percent parasitism, immature survival rate, adult longevity and first 10 days fecundity of females were calculated using 25 newly emerged pairs (0-4 h) confined in tubes and provided with two masses of respected host eggs daily under the same conditions till they died. Results revealed that T. basalis males had significantly shorter development period (11.75 ± 0.058 and 12.57 ± 0.96 d on EI and GL eggs, respectively) compared to that of females (12.62 ± 0.06 and 13.72 ± 0.69 d on eggs of EI and GL, respectively). Similarly, it was noticed that malesâ longevity (54.72 ± 1.63 d) on EI eggs was significantly higher compared to their sibling females (43.16 ± 2.045 d) and male and female wasps on GL eggs which had significantly shorter longevity. In general, T. basalis reared on EI eggs had significantly longer oviposition period (39 ± 1.79 d), higher fecundity (292.4 ± 11.14 egg/female) and greater % parasitism (84.09 ± 1.56%) when compared with those on GL eggs. Moreover, immature survival rate was 82 and 64 % for wasp reared on EI and GL eggs, respectively. Finally, rm, λ and R0 were 0.316 and 0.224 d-1, 1.372 and 1.252 d-1 and 118.5 and 51.08 f/f/gen for wasps on EI and GL eggs, respectively. The population age distribution demonstrated that, totally, 95-98 and 2-5 % of the population were immature and adult stages for both hosts

Initial and delayed mortality of Rhyzopertha dominica (Col.: Bostrichidae) and Tribolium castaneum (Col.: Tenebrionidae) adults exposed to Silico-Sec® formulation of diatomaceous earth

Efficacy of temperature and exposure interval on the toxicity of Silico-Sec®, a diatomaceous earth formulation, was determined on 7-14 days old adults of Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) and Tribolium castaneum Herbst under laboratory conditions at 22, 27, 32 ºC and 65 ± 5% R.H. Insects were exposed for 8-72 hours to diatomaceous earth at the rate of 10 g/m2 on a filter paper inside plastic Petri dishes separately. Then the initial mortality was counted and, to determine delayed mortality, live individuals were held for a week in clean Petri dishes without food at the same conditions of previous experiment. LT50 values of initial mortality for R. dominica were 21, 12 and 9 hours at 22, 27, 32 ºC, respectively, and in the case of T. castaneum, they were 52, 27 and 18 hours at the same temperatures. The LT50 values indicated that R. dominica was more sensitive to Silico-Sec® than T. castaneum under identical conditions. Results indicated that the initial mortality of both species was significantly lower at 22 ºC in comparison with 27 and 32 ºC, and a direct relationship between temperature and exposure period was observed. Mortality percentage of both storage pests was higher after a week than initial mortality. Therefore, Silico-Sec® can be recommended as a structural treatment of stored grain facilities