Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:29:56.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Quantitative Studies on Tyroglyphid Mite Populations

I.—The Determination and Significance of the Egg Density

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Colin Melville
Affiliation:
Pharmacy Department, The University of Manchester.

Extract

The quantitative study of Tyroglyphid populations involves their separation from the food material, for which existing methods are not entirely satisfactory A new method is described which depends on chemical treatment to remove the bulk of the flour. It is made quantitative and independent of moisture-content variation by application of the lycopodium-spore method of Wallis. A techniqul for determining the numbers of hatched and unhatched eggs per unit weight of flour is described. It provides information on the rate of increase or decreas in the number of eggs (natality rate per unit time) and hence on the ability the species to survive in a particular environment. The egg distribution in an undisturbed culture of Tyroglyphus farinae (Deg.) is found to be uneven. The technique is applied to the study of a population of Thyreophagus entomophagus (Lab.) under controlled conditions of temperature and humidity and the results discussed.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1957

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buxton, P. A. & Mellanby, K. (1934). The measurement and control of humidity.—Bull. ent. Res., 25, pp. 171175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chernuishev, P. K. (1938). On the necessity of modifying the method of estimating the infestation of agricultural products with mites. [In Russian.]—Pl. Prot., Leningr., no. 17, pp. 112115. (Rev. appl. Ent. (A) 27, p. 318.)Google Scholar
Hall, J. P. (1951). An improved polyvinyl mounting medium.—Pharm. J. 167, p. 65.Google Scholar
Odum, E. P. (1953). Fundamentals of ecology.—384 pp. Philadelphia, Saunders.Google Scholar
Petrova, G. I. (1940). Determination of the infestation of flour and groats by mites. [In Russian.]—Uchen. Zap. mosk. gosud. Univ., no. 42, Zool., pp. 203209. (R.A.E., (A) 31, p. 73.)Google Scholar
Shchastny, N. (1939). The determination of mites and mite eggs in flour.—Lab. Prak., Moscow, 1939, Sammelbd., pp. 4445; Chem. Zbl., 1940, p. 1284. (Chem. Abstr., 35, p. 6675.)Google Scholar
Smirnov, A. M. (1938). The antiformin method for the detection of mites in flour and breadstuffs.—Vop. Pitan., Moscow, 7, pp. 222223; Chem. Zbl., 1939, 2, p. 2181. (Chem. Abstr., 35, p. 4106.)Google Scholar
Solomon, M. E. (1945). Tyroglyphid mites in stored products. Methods for the study of population density.—Ann. appl. Biol., 32, pp. 7175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, M. E. (1946). Tyroglyphid mites in stored products. Ecological studies.—Ann. appl. Biol., 33, pp. 8297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wallis, T. E. (1920). Lycopodium method of quantitative microscopy.—J. E. micr. Soc., 40, p. 169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar