Life table of Paederus fuscipes (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

Abstract

The life history characteristics of the rove beetle Paederus fuscipes Curtis were studied under laboratory conditions using three field strains from Malaysia: Desa Wawasan (DW), Sri Pinang (SP), and Ampang Jajar (AJ). The total development time of immature stages differed significantly among the three strains, especially between DW (17.43 ± 0.16 d), SP (18.60 ± 0.19 d), and AJ (18.68 ± 0.22 d). Adult females and males from DW also exhibited a shorter life span, although the difference among strains was not significant. In terms of fecundity, the numbers of eggs laid per female for DW, SP, and AJ were 121.28 ± 15.98, 127.30 ± 18.01, and 147.45 ± 17.12, respectively. Additionally, because of the shorter life span in DW strain, two apparent peaks in age-stage specific fecundity were detected. The beetles compensated for their shorter life span by increasing their reproductive activity to sustain the progeny in the population. The intrinsic rates of increase (r) of P. fuscipes from DW, SP, and AJ were 0.0773 ± 0.0046 d-1 0.0788 ± 0.0051 d-1, and 0.0873 ± 0.0054 d-1, respectively; and the net reproduction rates (R 0) were 40.09 ± 7.39 offspring, 45.29 ± 8.74 offspring, and 42.34 ± 8.25 offspring, respectively. The mean generation time of P. fuscipes from AJ was 43.08 ± 1.07 d, which was significantly higher than that from DW (47.95 ± 1.36 d) and SP (48.57 ± 1.43 d). The total immature development time of P. fuscipes in this study was shorter than values reported in previous studies. © 2012 Entomological Society of America.