Laboratory bionomics of Tripteroides aranoides

Tripteroides aranoides was colonized in the laboratory. Total duration of the immature stages was ca. 3 weeks at 28 degrees C, L:D = 15.5:8.5 with an ample food supply. Retardation of 4th instar development was observed in larvae fed on insufficient food. Females were autogenous for the first clutch of eggs and required a blood meal for maturation of the second clutch. Mating was initiated in flight and copulation occurred on the cage wall. Gravid females hovered in small oblique loops above water in bamboo cups, whereupon a white egg appeared at the abdominal tip, which was propelled by the swing of the abdomen towards water surface. The females propelled eggs in the same manner into small apertures (11 x 4 mm) bored in bamboo.