Demographic parameters of the Mediterranean fruit fly at various laboratory conditions

Demographic parameters and their standard errors have been estimated for females of Ceratitis capitata (Wied.) at 31, 28, 25, 22 and 19°C.

Highest mortalities were obtained during the larval stage and, generally, the lowest mortalities ocurred at 22°C. Intrinsic rate of increase (r) varied from 0,103 at 19°C to 0,237 at 31°C. The longest mean generation time (T) ranged from 22,97 days at 31°C to 55,57 days at 19°C. The highest net reproductive rate (R_o = 308,72 days) was obtained at 19°C.

A new mathematical methodology to estimate demographic parameters and their standard errors is reported.