Stegobium paniceum (L.), one of the important stored products pests, have been distributed widely all over the world. It does great harm to stored tabacco, flour, dry mixes, chocolate, cookies, stored grains and dried fruits and so on. In China, the pest mainly attacked Chinese Medicinal Materials. In this paper, the effects of temperatures on development and reproductive potential of experimental populations of S. paniceum (L.) were analyzed in laboratory under 17，20，23，26，29 ℃ and 32 ℃. In our experiment, 12-hours old mated females were confined individually in box with host food Kansui root, one Chinese medicinal material, and were exposed to the constant temperatures in temperature chamber. 30 eggs were glued on host (50 g) and were then placed in each temperature chamber at (17±0.5), (20±0.5), (23±0.5), (26±0.5), (29±0.5) ℃ and (32±0.5)℃ (a photoperiod of 14∶10 (L∶D) and relative humidity (75%±3%), respectively. 3 replicates was designed for each temperature treatment. Hatching rate of eggs, livability of both pupae and larvae, oviposition of each female adult and other population parameter in each temperature treatment were redcorded.
Under different constant temperature conditions in the range of 17-32 ℃, the significantly shorter development time of S. paniceum (L.) was found with the increase of temperature. Development time of the larvae decreased with an increase of temperature, 74.4 d at 17 ℃ to 36.2 d at 32 ℃. Remarkable effect of temperature to the hatching rate, to the livability of both larvae and pupae, to the oviposition of each female adult was also observed. The most suitable temperature for population number increase was 26.75 ℃. The intrinsic increase rate (r_m) increased with temperature until a maximum of 0.061 at 29 ℃. The reproduction rates (R₀) reached their peaks at 29 ℃, with values of 31.98. Reproductive activity was also greatly affected at both lower and higher temperatures. Our results suggested development time and reproductive potential of S. paniceum (L.) were influenced greatly by temperature.