A laboratory study of the predation response of Nabis americoferus Carayon to prey models and notes on the biology of the species

Studies on the predation response of fifth instar Nabis americoferus nymphs and biology studies of nymphs and adults of the species were conducted in the laboratory at a constant temperature of 80°F and in a 14-hour photoperiod. The average lengths of the five nymphal stadia normal in this species, in order of occurrence, were found to be 3.4, 2.6, 2.9, 3.4, and 6.1 days for male nymphs and 3.3, 2.6, 2.6, 3.1, and 5.0 days for the female nymphs tested. Mean duration of the entire nymphal stage of males, 18.4 days, exceeded that of females, 17.0 days, by 1.4 days. Adult males lived an average of 17.4 days, whereas for females this figure was 24.0 days. The average female preoviposition period was 4.3 days. Mean egg production per female was 210.5. The mean number of eggs produced daily increased until the twelfth day of adult life at which time the number produced began to fluctuate and gradually decreased to zero prior to death. Maximum longevity of females was 41 days. Twelve different models, three sizes in each of four shapes, were fashioned in the laboratory and presented to fifth instar nymphs as simulated prey. Nymphs were separated by sex for use in these experiments. No significant difference was found in either group to any of the models presented nor was there a significant difference in percent positive. attack response between males and females. Analysis of the data did determine, however, that significantly more attack responses to the models occurred within the first 30 seconds after presentation than in the remaining 90 seconds before removal of the model.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Entomology

Department dc:contributor.department

Entomology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1971

Author dc:creator

• Skrivseth, Sandra J.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-10032008-063041

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/44991