Starvation resistance of invasive lace bug <i>Corythucha ciliata</i> (Hemiptera: Tingidae) in China
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33338/ef.55420Abstract
Food shortage is a prevalent threat to insect survival and successful reproduction in natural settings. An insect species invading new areasmay have a high capacity to survive and adapt to starvation. To test these hypotheses, we assessed the survival time of Corythucha ciliata (Say), in a laboratory under two starvation conditions: complete starvation (no food supplied) and gradual starvation (food provided once and not replenished). Under complete starvation, survival of 3rd to 5th instar nymphs tended to decline steadily, whereas under gradual starvation this process was delayed in the initial stage. The average survival times increased as the instar increased under both conditions (14.0 h, 15.9 h and 24.4 h under complete starvation conditions; 27.8 h, 29.6 h and 33.6 h under gradual starvation conditions). The longest lived individual nymph survived for 49 hours. The results may partially explain the rapid global expansion of C. ciliata.
