| Biological aspects and life table of the red spider mite, Tetranychus desertorum Banks, 1900, were studied on leaf discs of kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris Linnaeus) cultivar "Tacarigua" under laboratory conditions (28 ± 2ºC, 70 ± 10% R.H. and 12:12h). Our results showed that total developmental time was 6.8 days for females, with partial duration of immature stages corresponding to 3.8, 1.4, 1.0 and 0.7 for egg, larva, protonymph and deutonymph, respectively. Preoviposition, oviposition and postoviposition periods were 1.1, 8.4 and 1.3 days, respectively; and the higher mean fecundity (6.93 eggs/female/day) was observed on day 4. Female mean longevity was 10 days. The life table parameters recorded were: net reproduction rate (Ro) = 41.10 individuals;... |
