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Volume 31, Number 2
147
Table 1. Results of oviposition and larval transfer studies with Callosamia promethea (Drury).
|
Female Number |
Number Eggs Deposited |
Number Eggs Hatched |
Percent Hatch |
Number Larvae1 Transferring to Food Plant |
Percent2 Transferring |
|
1 |
73 |
69 |
94.5 |
68 |
98.5 |
|
2 |
71 |
65 |
91.5 |
55 |
84.6 |
|
3 |
87 |
82 |
94.2 |
45 |
54.8 |
|
4 |
77 |
69 |
86.6 |
66 |
95.6 |
|
5 |
57 |
57 |
100.0 |
49 |
85.9 |
|
6 |
92 |
91 |
98.9 |
46 |
50.5 |
|
7 |
57 |
54 |
94.7 |
50 |
92.5 |
|
8 |
16 |
15 |
93.7 |
15 |
100.0 |
|
9 |
34 |
32 |
94.1 |
28 |
87.5 |
|
10 |
52 |
52 |
100.0 |
42 |
80.7 |
|
11 |
40 |
39 |
97.5 |
37 |
94.8 |
|
12 |
48 |
44 |
91.6 |
41 |
93.1 |
|
704 |
669 |
95.0 |
542 |
81.0 |
1 By second day after hatching.
2 Number on food plant/number hatched.
vant data. The wild cherry cuttings, containing the lst-instar larvae, were placed in rearing cages along with other colonized C. promethea larvae and no further records of this group of experimental larvae were kept.
We have concluded from the results obtained with this modified procedure (Table 1) that it is an effective and efficient method for handling eggs and lst-instar larvae of C. promethea. Of the eggs that hatched (95%), 81.0% of the larvae migrated to the food plants within two days. We consider this percent transfer to be very acceptable, in view of the fact that we were able to obtain 542 lst-instar larvae on food plants in rearing containers with only a minimum of effort on our part.
We have also found that this procedure gives acceptable results in obtaining eggs and lst-instar larvae for the indoor colonization of Antheraea polyphemus (Cramer) and Eupackardia calleta (Westwood), but we have not collected any detailed experimental data for the transfer of these species to food plants.
Thomas A. Miller and William J. Cooper. U.S. Army Medical Bioengineering Research and Development Laboratory, Fort Detrick, Maryland 21701. (This research was not supported by government funds; the opinions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of the Army.)
HYPOSOTER FUG1TIVUS (ICHNEUMONIDAE) PARASITIC WITHIN MEGALOPYGE OPERCULARS LARVAE (MEGALOPYGIDAE)
The puss caterpillar, Megalopyge operculars (J. E. Smith), is quite important from the medical standpoint since it is highly poisonous.
On collecting larvae of this species from oak trees (Quercus) in New Orleans at the end of June 1976, some were noticed to be distinctly underdeveloped and quiescent. The latter were attached to leaves and measured only 7-8 mm. Most
148
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
Fig. 1. Remains of parasitized, young caterpillar of Megalopyge opercularis showing the hole from which the adult Hyposoter fiigitivus emerged.
other larvae found at that time measured ca. 20 mm in length. All the larvae were transferred to artificial diet. Three days later, two adults of Hyposoter fiigitivus (Say) appeared in the container. On the examination of the larvae the parasitized ones were found. Nothing was left of the host except transparent cuticle attached to the leaf of the host plant. There was a 1.5 mm hole between the hairs from which the adult wasp emerged (Fig. 1). The wasp is parasitic on young puss caterpillars. Parasitism apparently resulted in the paralysis and death of the larva, which accounts for their underdevelopment. The parasite pupated within the host and emerged as adult.
Cocoons of puss caterpillar are known to be parasitized by an ichneumonid wasp. However, this is the first record of an ichneumonid wasp parasitic on the larvae of this host.
I am grateful to Dr. R. W. Carlson, Systematic Entomology Laboratory, IIBIII, for the identification of the wasp.
Kamel T. Khalaf, Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118.
WOODPECKER FEEDING ON CALLOSAMIA PROMETHEA (SATURNIIDAE) COCOON
About midday on 15 March 1975, while on a combined bird-walk and cocoon hunt along Bean Creek, near Morenci in Lenawee Co., Michigan, I observed a Downy Woodpecker, Dryobates pubescens mecUanus (Swainson), feeding on a live Callosamia promethea Drury cocoon. The day was bright, although cloudy, with temperatures in the forties—ideal weather for such activities. My attention was