Predation capacity of hippodamia variegata goeze (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) fed on aphis gossypii glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

In this study, two sex life table paramaters and predation rate of Hippodamia variegata GOEZE (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) on Aphis gossypii GLOVER (Hemiptera: Aphididae) depending on raw data of the development rate, survival, fecundity and prey consume were calculated. The study was carried out in 2016 in Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection, 25 ± 1ºC temperature, 65 ± 5% humidity and 16: 8 hour light: climate room in dark conditions. Pre-adult average development time of Hippodamia variegata was 20.84 days, life time of adult females was 40.42 days and 33.41 days for males The pre-ovipozition period was 6.18 days, total pre-adult ovipozition period was 25.67 days, the egg laying period was 12.03 days, the reproduction rate was 102.55 eggs and the survival rate was 37%. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) 0.080 eggs, the finite rate of increase (λ) was 1.083 eggs, net reproduction rate (R0) 20.506 eggs/female, mean generation time (T) was 37.48 days and total reproduction rate (GRR) was 360.37 eggs/female. The predation rate was highest in the 4th larval period and the pre-adult average predation rate was 272.34 preys, the average predation rate for the adult period was 1476.78 preys, and the average predation rate for all periods was 818.75 preys. It was found that the highest rate of predation occurred in the adult period. Keywords: Aphis gossypii, Gepeyam1 cotton variety, Hippodamia variegata, Two sex life table, Predation rate