Relationship between temperature and development rate of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Copitarsia incommoda</Emphasis> (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the Bolivian Andes

The relationship between temperature and development rate of Copitarsia incommoda Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a major pest of the quinoa crop in the Andes, was investigated using eight constant temperatures from 5.1 to 34.6 °C, on an artificial diet under laboratory conditions. We used a Gauss model to fit the survival rate, and the Holling type III, the Wang, and the Sharpe and DeMichele models to fit the different development rates for each life stage, among 25 models investigated and compared. Optimum temperatures for survival were between 13.2 and 27.1 °C, and optimum temperatures for development were between 19.1 and 31.9 °C. We used the development rate models with a large-scale temperature database to predict and map the risk of outbreaks once C. incommoda invades, using the number of generations per year, revealing that the pest was univoltine or bivoltine in most Bolivian regions of quinoa production. While temperatures from this database underestimate the temperatures experienced by the pest, this study provides a new insight into C. incommoda physiology, which should be a key factor in designing integrated pest management strategies.