Honey Bee Research Unit, Kika de Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, 2413 E. Highway 83, Weslaco, TX 78596, USA.
J Insect Sci. 2012;12:118. doi: 10.1673/031.012.11801.
Survivorship of larvae of the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), was measured after they were raised on one of six diets. The effects of container shape (wide and shallow vs. narrow and deep), soil depth (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 cm), and temperature (28°, 32°, or 35° C) on pupation success was measured. Diet influenced larval survivorship, but did not have a strong effect on larval weight. The larvae fed only bee brood survived the shortest period of time. The larvae that were denied pupation substrate, fed only honey and pollen, and no other food or water after 20 days, had a median survivorship of 47.6 days, with a maximum of 61 days, while those fed only brood had a median survivorship of 18.2 days. Pupation substrate was essential for successful pupation, and the depth of the substrate, not its top surface area, was the crucial factor. Pupation success in narrow and deep containers was 95.6% on average, but only 12.5% in wide and shallow containers, using the same soil volume. In narrow and deep containers, most or all larvae kept in 4-8 cm of soil pupated at all temperatures, few larvae kept at 2 cm soil depth pupated, one out of 240 kept at 1.0 cm pupated, and no larvae kept at soil depths of 0 or 0.5 cm pupated.
在六种饮食中的一种饲养后，测量了小巢蜂幼虫（鞘翅目：金花虫科）的存活率。测量了容器形状（宽而浅与窄而深）、土壤深度（0、0.5、1.0、2.0、4.0 和 8.0 厘米）和温度（28°、32°或 35° C）对化蛹成功率的影响。饮食影响幼虫存活率，但对幼虫体重影响不大。只吃蜜蜂幼虫的幼虫存活时间最短。在第 20 天被剥夺化蛹基质、只喂蜂蜜和花粉且不再提供其他食物或水的幼虫，中位存活期为 47.6 天，最长为 61 天，而只吃幼虫的幼虫中位存活期为 18.2 天。化蛹基质是化蛹成功的关键，基质的深度而非其表面积是关键因素。在同样的土壤体积下，窄而深的容器中化蛹成功率平均为 95.6%，而宽而浅的容器中仅为 12.5%。在窄而深的容器中，大多数或所有保存在 4-8 厘米土壤中的幼虫在所有温度下都化蛹成功，保存在 2 厘米土壤深度中的幼虫很少化蛹成功，240 个幼虫中只有 1 个化蛹成功，而保存在土壤深度为 0 或 0.5 厘米的幼虫则没有化蛹成功。
