Vital Statistics of Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) under Laboratory Conditions: IV. Panstrongylus geniculatus

Abstract

A cohort of 100 eggs of Panstrongylus geniculatus (Latreille) was reared in the laboratory under constant conditions (temperature 26±1°C, 60±10% RH), with mortality and fecundity data recorded weekly. We calculated stage-specific development times, age-specific mortality and fecundity (18.4 eggs/♀/wk), and stage-specific and total preadult mortality (31.6%), and the weekly intrinsic rate of natural increase (ro = 0.096), the finite population growth rate (< = 1.109), the net reproductive rate (R0 = 60.45), and the generation time (T = 46.34 wk). Elasticity analysis showed that the dominant lifehistory trait determining