Reproductive Rates of Russian Wheat Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Biotypes 1 and 2 on a Susceptible and a Resistant Wheat at Three Temperature Regimes

The reproductive rates of Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Kurdjumov) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), Biotype 1 (RWA 1) and Biotype 2 (RWA 2) were compared in the laboratory at three temperature regimes on a Russian wheat aphid resistant cultivar (‘Prairie Red’) and a susceptible cultivar (‘TAM 107′). The objective of this study was to expose RWA 1 and RWA 2 to three temperature regimes and two levels of resistance to find whether there were reproductive differences that may occur within each biotype as well as differences in reproduction between biotypes. In addition, temperature effects of the Dn4 gene on biotype reproduction were noted. Differences in reproductive rates between the two biotypes seem to be driven by temperature. For both biotypes, longevity and reproductive rate parameters, except for intrinsic rate of increase, were lower at the 24–29°C temperature regime than the 13–18°C and 18–24°C temperature regimes. The intrinsic rate of increase was higher for both biotypes at the 18–24°C and 24–29°C temperature regimes than at the 13–18°C temperature regime. Reproductive rates between biotypes were similar at the two higher temperature regimes, but the fecundity for RWA 1 was less than RWA 2 at the 13–18°C temperature. The change in fecundity rates between RWA 1 and RWA 2 at lower temperatures could have ecological and geographical implications for RWA 2.