Temperature-dependent development and survival of small hive beetle, Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae)

Abstract

The small hive beetle (SHB) Aethina tumida Murray, (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) is an invasive pest of honey bees recently found in Korea. We investigated the influence of temperature on the development and survival of immature SHBs. The beetle’s immature stages were exposed to different constant temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 37 and 39 °C) under stable and continuous dark conditions and a relative humidity of 75 ± 5%. All immature stages successfully developed to the next stage at the temperature range from 15 to 39 °C, except for the egg at 15 °C and wandering larvae and pupae, which suffered 100% mortalities at 39 °C. Total immature developmental period at 18.6 and 35 °C ranged from 53.9 days to 20, respectively. Lower developmental thresholds were determined according to a linear model as 16.0, 11.6, 9.6, 12.6, and 11.8 °C for eggs, feeding larvae, wandering larvae, pupae and total immatures, respectively. Among the non-linear models, Analytis-3/Briere-1 was selected as the best to describe the temperature-dependent developmental rate of all immature stages of SHBs based on Akaike information criterion corrected (AICc) values and biological adequacy. According to this model, optimum and high developmental threshold temperatures for eggs, feeding larvae, wandering larvae, pupae and total immatures were 39.1, 36.5, 33.2, 35.5, and 34.8 °C and 46.5, 44, 40.4, 42.5 and 41.5 °C, respectively. According to the polynomial regression model, maximum survival was estimated at temperatures of 28.2, 28.7, 26.7 and 26.5 °C, of eggs, feeding larvae, wandering larvae and pupae, respectively. This study can be used to predict the potential distribution of SHB in non-native locations.