FREQUÊNCIA FENOTÍPICA DE ASAS E OLHOS AO LONGO DE GERAÇÕES EM POPULAÇÕES DE LABORATÓRIO DE Chrysoperla externa (NEUROPTERA: CHRYSOPIDAE)

Abstract

In massal rearing of natural enemies with the goal of biological control, the procedures adopted for establishment and maintenance of the individual founders of the colonies may have undesirable effects on population genetic structure of laboratory. This situation influences the success of rearing and effectiveness in the field. The objective of this study was to evaluate, along of generations two laboratory populations (Jaboticabal and Piracicaba) of Chrysoperla externa (Hagen) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), founded with different numbers of adults (1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 couples), the frequency of morphological variants, size of wings and eye color, such as parameters for inferences about the homozygosity degrees. For eye color were assessed the frequency, while for the size of wings was measured the width and the length of the right mesothoracic wings. The eye color variants for C. externa populations may be monitored in the laboratory aiming at detecting inbreeding, whereas the measurements of length and width of wings should not be adopted for this purpose.