INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT DIETS OF CORCYRA CEPHALONICA ON LIFE HISTORY OF A REDUVIID PREDATOR RHYNOCORIS MARGINATUS (FAB.)

Rhynocoris marginatus (Fab.) a predator of nearly 25 insect pests, accepting the larvae of Corcyra cephalonica Stainton as an alternative laboratory host. Influence of different diets (wheat, jower, sorghum and rice) of C. cephalonica larvae on the life history of R. marginatus was studied under laboratory conditions. Developmental period and the adult longevity were minimum and maximum respectively when R. marginatus reared on C. cephalonica larvae from jower medium. This category has minimum pre-oviposition period (62.6 ± 5 days) and maximum number of batches of eggs laid, total number of eggs laid/female and hatchability. Life table studies indicated that the net reproductive rate, mean length of a generation and corrected generation time were maximum in the above mentioned category. The geometric studies revealed that heaviour (192.12 mg / adult) and shorter total body length were noticed in wheat and jower media reared C. cephalonica fed predators respectively