Bio-ecology and construction of life table of reduviid bug, Sycanus collaris (Fabricius) (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) for mass rearing under laboratory conditions

The predator, Sycanus collaris (Fabricius) (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) has been mass-reared under laboratory conditions on an alternate host, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). The life table parameters of the predator reared on the looper host yielded an intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm) of 0.062, a net reproductive rate (Ro) of 252.78 female offspring/ adult female, and a gross reproductive rate (Σmx) of 278.98. Successful rearing of this predator on the alternate host C. cephalonica suggests it could be easily mass-produced in the laboratory.