| Stenocatantops splendens (Thunberg) is one of the live food of entomophagous birds with the highest economic value in commercial markets. Trial mass-rearing of S. splendens was conducted in Guangzhou Conghua, Guangdong Province, China. Adult S. splendens collected from wild were reared in cages and in mesh-houses, respectively, before which both ♀ and ♂ had been mated. Death of adults was compared between cage rearing and mesh-house rearing, and among mesh-houses, and influence of diurnal variation of temperature and relative humidity on adult mortality was analyzed. And mass death of the 3rd instar in mesh-house rearing was discussed. Results showed that, although adult density in mesh-house (?=29.87±2.51 adult /m3) was extraordinarily lower than in cage (?=2371.26±87.23 adult/m3), adult mortality (88.02±0.07%) in mesh-house was 2.16 times higher than in cage (40.71±0.11%), which was statistically significantly different. Influence of diurnal variation of temperature and relative humidity on adult mortality was either not statistically significantly different for cage-rearing and mesh-houses G and I, or of low correlation for mesh-house F (R2=0.1596). 73.94% of adult death in mesh-house F occurred in April, while adults died in the same month in mesh-houses G and I were both less than half of the respective total death, with 47.18% and 40.80% for mesh-house G and I, respectively. It is supposed that adult death in mesh-houses may be related to biological factors relevant to adults mating and laying eggs. In mesh-houses, development of eggs and 1st and 2nd instars and ecdysis of 3rd instars were completed. However, a mass of 3rd instars were dead at their early stage. The reason has not known yet. It is concluded that the mass death of 3rd instars would be the crux of mass-rearing of S. splendens. |
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