Dactylopius opuntiae is the most important pest of cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) around the world. Recently the scale-supping pest have become an increasing threat to the cultivation of prickly pear in many Mediterranean areas. The life cycle of D. opuntiae was carried out under field and semi-field in Winter-Spring and Spring-Summer Morocco conditions. The results showed that the duration of life cycle of D. opuntiae under field and semi-field conditions was temperature dependent. It was long (133.52±3.82 days) in Winter-Spring when temperature was between 2.3°C and 25°C than in Spring-Summer (127.85±2.15 days) when the temperature was between 13.5°C and 47°C. Duration of male life cycle was significantly long under field conditions in Winter-Spring (74.57±4.05 days) and short (37.10±3.0 days) under semi-field conditions in Spring-Summer. For the duration of female life cycle it was significantly long (133.52±3.82 days) under field conditions in Winter-Spring, and no significant difference was observed between field conditions in Spring-Summer, semi-field conditions in Spring-Summer, and semi-field conditions in Winter-Spring. The effect of the availability of food on reproduction and population growth parameters was also evaluated under laboratory conditions at 25 ±2°C and the results indicated that the females pre-oviposition, and post-oviposition periods were significantly long without food than in the presence of food, however oviposition period, females longevity, fecundity, fertility, and growth index were significantly higher in the presence of food than without food. Also the net reproductive rate (R0), and generation time (T) were significantly higher for females with food, and no significant difference was observed between females with food and females without food for intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm), doubling time (DT), and finite rate of increase (λ).

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