Understanding the life cycle and dietary requirements of laboratory-reared insects is critical for optimizing resources (including time) and can provide more reliable ecological basis for using such biological control agents in realistic programs. Here, we evaluated the complete development and the predatory abilities of Belostoma anurum (Herrich-Schäffer, 1848) (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae), an aquatic predator widely distributed in Neotropical region, when reared at different diets. We firstly investigated the predatory performance of B. anurum nymphs upon mosquito larvae (i.e., larvae of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1758) or Culex sp. (Diptera: Culicidae)) and, second, whether the immature diets (i.e., arthropod-based diet (mosquito larvae and adults of Notonectidae) or vertebrate (fish larvae)–based diet) affect the predatory behavior of B. anurum adults. The B. anurum egg-to-adult developmental time was 85.1 days in an arthropod-based diet. However, when a fish-based diet was offered after nymphs reached 3rd instar, we recorded up to 50% reductions on the B. anurum developmental time. Interestingly, B. anurum adults could live more than 1 year under laboratory conditions, independently of the immature diet regime. Furthermore, the fish diet–experienced B. anurum adults spent less time feeding on fish larvae when compared with adults that never experienced this type of diet. Predatory results revealed that 2nd instar B. anurum were more efficient to catch and consume larvae of A. aegypti than of Culex sp. Collectively, our findings show that B. anurum is long-lived aquatic predators, and demonstrate the impacts of dietary regime on the life history traits and predatory performance of these insects.

中文翻译：

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病媒蚊子的生物防治剂Belostoma anurum（Hemiptera：Belostomatidae）的生活史特征和掠食性表现。

了解实验室饲养昆虫的生命周期和饮食要求对于优化资源（包括时间）至关重要，并且可以为在实际程序中使用此类生物防治剂提供更可靠的生态基础。在这里，我们评估了在不同饮食条件下饲养的新生物区域的水生捕食者——Abelumoma anurum（Herrich-Schäffer，1848年）（Hemiptera：Belostomatidae）的完整发育和捕食能力。我们首先研究了B. anurum若虫在蚊虫幼虫（即埃及伊蚊（Linnaeus，1758）或库蚊的幼虫）上的掠食性表现。sp。（Diptera：Culicidae）），其次，不成熟的饮食（即节肢动物为主的饮食（蚊虫幼虫和夜蛾科的成虫）还是脊椎动物（鱼幼体为基础的饮食）是否会影响金黄色葡萄球菌的捕食行为。该B. anurum卵到成虫的发育时间为85.1天，基于节肢动物的饮食。但是，如果若虫到达三龄后以鱼为食，我们记录到金黄色芽孢杆菌的发育时间最多减少了50％。有趣的是，金黄色芽孢杆菌的成年人可以在实验室条件下生活1年以上，而与未成熟的饮食习惯无关。此外，鱼饮食中有金黄色芽孢杆菌与从未经历过这种饮食的成年人相比，成年人在鱼类幼虫上的觅食时间更少。掠食性结果表明，第二龄幼虫B. aurum捕获和食用埃及伊蚊的幼虫比Culex sp。更有效。总的来说，我们的发现表明金黄色芽孢杆菌是长寿的水生捕食者，并证明了饮食制度对这些昆虫的生活史特征和捕食性能的影响。