DIETARY INFLUENCE ON REPRODUCTION IN BOTH SEXES OF FIVE PREDACIOUS SPECIES (NEUROPTERA)

Abstract

Although the species that were closely related had similar adult feeding habits, they varied in their specific dietary requirements for mating and for the initiation of oviposition. In Chrysopa lanata, which is not predacious in the adult stage, the females required a protein-carbohydrate diet in order to mate; on the other hand, Chrysopa downesi males and females, which also are not predacious, mated when fed a diet consisting only of sugar and water. Chrysopa nigricornis males and females both required prey (Myzus persicae) before they would mate; whereas Chrysopa quadripunctata and Sympherobius amiculus, both of which are predacious as adults, did not need a diet other than sugar and water for mating.All five species depended on prey or a synthetic protein-carbohydrate diet for sustained oviposition; however, S. amiculus initiated oviposition when fed only sugar. When the synthetic protein-carbohydrate diet was substituted for prey, 40% of the C. quadripunctata females began to oviposit. The same diet did not promote oviposition in the predacious C. nigricornis adults.