Effects of Temperature and Humidity on the Rust-Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium-Castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae), in Wheat-Grain

Abstract

Rates of survival and development of the immature stages of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera : Tenebrionidae) were determined in wheat grain at constant temperatures from 20 to 37.5°C and constant relative humidities from 25 to 65%. The rates for eggs and pupae were similar to those previously published for T. castaneum in flour, but larval development was slower and mortality greater, except at low temperature and high humidity. The effect of temperature and humidity on rates of fertility and oviposition in young adults were also determined in wheat grain. The patterns of effects of temperature and humidity on oviposition were similar to those previously published for T. castaneum in flour, but the maximum observed oviposition rate was lower. Fertility was significantly reduced when densities of adults were greater than one pair per 250 g. Mathematical functions were fitted to data from the present and previous studies on age-specific survival and fecundity of adults; population growth rate statistics were calculated from life-table parameters defined by these functions. Under optimal conditions within the range of the present study (35°C, 65% RH), the innate capacity for increase rm was 0.84 per week. The limits for population increase, where rm is zero, were largely determined by.the limits for larval survival, which were approximately 35% RH, and 20-22°C at the lower limit and 40°C at the upper limit.