The fecundity of the insidious flower bug, <i>Orius insidiosus</i>, was poor when reared on a minimal artificial diet (control diet) previously used to rear <i>Orius sauteri</i>. This diet was composed of brewers yeast, soy protein hydrolysate and chicken yolk. Consequently, we supplemented test diets with homogenates of eggs from the Indian meal moth,<i>Plodia interpunctella</i>, proteins, or lipids extracted from <i>Plodia</i> eggs. Test diets were also supplemented with each of three fatty acids identified to be predominant in <i>Plodia</i> eggs (palmitic, linoleic and oleic acid), bovine serum albumin (BSA), chicken liver, beef liver, or chicken egg white albumin. Diets were compared against <i>Plodia</i> eggs (standard) and control diet on the basis of the average total number of eggs a female oviposited during her lifetime. Only proteins derived from >Plodia</i> eggs and three commercially available animal-derived proteins produced significant improvements in fecundity over the control diet.
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA