Life table of cochlochila bullita stål (hemiptera: tingidae) on orthosiphon aristatus (blume) miq. and ocimum basilicum l. in laboratory conditions

Ocimum tingid, Cochlochila bullita Stål (Hemiptera: Tingidae) is a pest of Lamiaceae
plants such as basil, tulsi and coleus. It is now being recorded in Malaysia as a pest of the
cat’s whiskers plant, Orthosiphon aristatus (Blume) Miq. Nevertheless, apart from its brief
biological description, no other information is available. The life table of this pest was
studied in laboratory conditions. Development time for C. bullita feeding on O. aristatus
was 23.3 ± 0.9 days, which was found to be similar to those feeding on Ocimum basilicum
(22.8 ± 0.3 days). Although C. bullita posts a higher mortality rate on O. aristatus than
on O.basilicum (52% vs. 37%), the adult longevity of the bugs that feed on O. aristatus
(♀: 33.9; ♂: 38.2 days) was found to be significantly higher than those bugs that feed
on O.basilicum (♀: 27.2; ♂: 26.0 days). The pre-ovipostion, ovispostion and fecundity
of C. bullita were also different between the host plants. The net reproductive rates (R0),
finite rate of increase (λ) and intrinsic rate of increase (r) were also higher on O. aristatus
(10.7504, 1.0690 and 0.0667), although there was an increased in immature survival on
O. basilicum (6.0287, 1.0556 and 0.0541). Therefore, it is concluded that O. aristatus is
as good as O. basilicum, or the population
growth of C. bullita is more favoured as
compared to O. basilicum.