Abstract:Haptoncus luteolus (Erichson) (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) has been reported as a useful pollinator in commercially grown sugar apples and atemoyas in previous studies. H. luteolus pollination can increase fruit yield by 22%. Luo Feng et al. have carried out research on the distribution and diffusion of H. luteolus in cotton field. They considered it a valuable pollinator because it has a strong ability to diffuse and its pollination range is very wide. The threshold temperature and effective temperature of this pollinating beetle have also been investigated and the most suitable temperature for the development of H. luteolus is around 30 ℃. In this study, we used a random experimental design of three factors to investigate the effect of different combinations of temperature, soil humidity, and photoperiod on the development of H. luteolus. H. luteolus used in our experiments were taken from the sponge gourd field and raised in the Institute of Insect Resources of Huazhong Agricultural University. The adults were kept at a constant temperature (27±2) ℃ and fed on sponge gourd flowers. Every day we changed the flowers and collected eggs from petals. The combined effects of different combinations of five levels of temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30 ℃ and 35 ℃), three levels of soil humidity (10%, 15% and 20%) and three durations of photoperiod (8, 12 h and 16 h) on development of H. luteolus were studied. JKDP-2 eternal temperature boxes controlled temperature and photoperiod. The light source was an unshaded 10 W light bulb 15 cm away from the soil. The soil was taken from the field; stones and roots of grass were removed. The soil was dried in an oven until its weight stabilized and the depth of the soil in the petri dish was 1.5 cm. When the soil was cooled to room temperature, we added water to achieve 10%, 15%, and 20% humidity. We then put the petals with eggs into these boxes to carry out our experiments. The results showed that the optimum condition for the development of H. luteolus eggs was 30 ℃, 10% and 12 h with a developmental period of 0.8 d and with 93.3% of eggs hatching. The suitable temperature, soil humidity, and photoperiod ranges for larvae and pupae were respectively 25 to 30 ℃, 10 to 15% and 12 to 16 h. The optimum combination for each of them were 30 ℃, 10% humidity, 12 h and 30 ℃,10% humidity,8 h, respectively. The shortest developmental period for larvae was 5.0d and for pupae 2.2 d. Under the optimal conditions,the survival rate of larvae and emergence rate of the pupae of H. luteolus were 85.7% and 83.3%, respectively. We used a polynomial regression to find the best-fit curve between environmental conditions and developmental period as derived from our experiment. The theoretically ideal conditions of temperature, soil humidity, and photoperiod for egg, larvae, pupae and the total immature stages (the total period from eggs to pupae) were 27.5 ℃, 10%, 8 h; 30 ℃, 20%, 12 h; 32.5 ℃, 10%, 16 h and 30 ℃, 10%, 16 h while the developmental periods were 0.8、4.4、1.4 d and 7.3 d, respectively.