Large geographic range, wide habitat specificity and broad range of prey (including a number of pests of protected crops) suggest that a predatory ladybird Cheilomenes propinqua can be considered as potential agent for biological control in greenhouses. We investigated the influence of day length (10, 12 and 14 hr), temperature (20 and 24°C) and diet (the green peach aphid Myzus persicae and eggs of the grain moth Sitotroga cerealella) on the rate of maturation, fecundity and induction of reproductive diapause in C. propinqua females of a laboratory population originated from Alexandria, Egypt. The proportion of diapausing females (i.e. those with poorly developed ovaries and well‐developed fat body) varied from 5% to 70% being higher at short day, low temperature and feeding on the grain moth eggs. This diapause, however, was not very stable: more than 20% of females kept under diapause‐inducing conditions started to lay eggs during 110 days, although their pre‐oviposition period was about 5 times longer than that of females which matured at the same temperature but at the long day and on the natural diet. Although not very stable, reproductive diapause significantly increased survival of starving females. Such a short‐term reproductive diapause can be considered as an adaptation to mild and short‐term subtropical winter. The results of our study suggest that C. propinqua mass rearing will be more intensive at the combination of high temperature, natural food (aphids) and long day (14 hr), whereas individuals intended for long‐term storage should be reared under moderate temperature (20°C) and short‐day (10 hr) conditions and should be fed on factitious food (the grain moth eggs).

中文翻译：

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掠食性瓢虫 Cheilomenes propinqua 的光周期、热和营养反应

广阔的地理范围、广泛的栖息地特异性和广泛的猎物（包括受保护作物的许多害虫）表明，掠食性瓢虫 Cheilomenes propinqua 可被视为温室生物控制的潜在媒介。我们研究了日长（10、12 和 14 小时）、温度（20 和 24°C）和饮食（桃蚜 Myzus persicae 和谷物蛾 Sitotroga grainella 的卵）对成熟率、繁殖力和在来自埃及亚历山大的实验室种群的 C. propinqua 雌性中诱导生殖滞育。滞育雌性（即卵巢发育不良和脂肪体发育良好的雌性）在短日照、低温和以谷物蛾卵为食的情况下较高，从5%到70%不等。然而，这种滞育并不是很稳定：在滞育诱导条件下，20%以上的雌性在110天内开始产卵，尽管它们的产卵前期比在相同温度下但在长日和自然条件下成熟的雌性长约5倍。饮食。虽然不是很稳定，但生殖滞育显着增加了饥饿雌性的存活率。这种短期的生殖滞育可以认为是对温和和短期的亚热带冬季的适应。我们的研究结果表明，在高温、天然食物（蚜虫）和长日照（14 小时）的组合下，C. propinqua 大规模饲养将更加集约化，而打算长期储存的个体应在中等温度下饲养(20°C) 和短日照 (10 小时) 条件下，应以人造食物（谷蛾卵）为食。