<p class="Body">Life tables and feeding habits of Proprioseiopsis lenis (Acari: Phytoseiidae) and implications for its biological control potential in Southeast Asia

Development, survival and reproduction of Proprioseiopsis lenis (Corpuz and Rimando) (Acari: Phytoseiidae), a predatory mite distributed in parts of Southeast Asia, were assessed on different foods. These included four pollens (Typha latifolia, Luffa aegyptiaca, Zea mays, Ricinus communis), the natural prey Tetranychus urticae (mixed stages) and Frankliniella occidentalis (first-second instars), and the storage mite Carpoglyphus lactis (mixed stages) as a factitious prey. The total immature developmental time of females fed at 27 °C on T. latifolia pollen (4.1 days) or C. lactis (4.0 days) was significantly shorter than that of those offered Z. mays pollen (5.3 days), R. communis pollen (6.7 days) or T. urticae (4.3 days). Nearly 60% of the predators fed on R. communis pollen died in the immature stages and adult females failed to produce eggs. The daily oviposition rate of P. lenis reared on C. lactis (2.9 eggs/female/day), T. latifolia pollen (2.7 eggs/female/day) and F. occidentalis (2.6 eggs/female/day) was significantly higher than that of females maintained on the other diets. Total fecundity of females offered C. lactis (37.3 eggs/female) was highest, followed by F. occidentalis (26.5 eggs/female), T. urticae, L. aegyptiaca pollen, and T. latifolia pollen and was lowest on Z. mays pollen (7.4 eggs/female). The intrinsic rates of increase (rm) were highest on C. lactis (0.293), T. latifolia pollen (0.285) and T. urticae (0.283), followed by F. occidentalis (0.260) and L. aegyptiaca pollen (0.233) and were lowest on Z. mays pollen (0.115). Our findings suggest that P. lenis may have potential as a natural enemy to be used in augmentative biological control of spider mites and thrips in Southeast Asian greenhouse or field crops. The predator can be reared on the storage mite C. lactis and can also survive on several pollens in case prey is scarce or absent in the crop.