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Volume 37, Number 4
311
Females were seen at our study sites only a few times. On 4 April 1981 two mating pairs of M. spinetorum were found on North Peak. Both were on trees frequently used by perching males. One pair was resting on juniper foliage, the other on a staminate cone of digger pine. Occasional North Peak females were seen flying about pine dwarf mistletoe on a ridgetop near the summit. Although no mating M. johnsoni were found at Butts Canyon, several ovipositing females were observed on the ridgetop in April. The disproportionate sex ratio at the ridgetops and summit may indicate female dispersal after mating.1
These observations are consistent with Shields' (1967, J. Res. Lepid. 6:69-178) and Scott's (1970, J. Res. Lepid. 7:191-204) conclusions that butterflies with low population densities hilltop in order to facilitate the rendezvous of mates.
We thank Maria F. Lane, Robert L. Langston, Larry J. Orsak, Jerry A. Powell, and Arthur M. Shapiro for their assistance.
Richard V. Kelson, 29 Tiffin Ct., Clayton, California 94517 and Marc C. Minno, Aquatic Plant Management Laboratory, 3205 SW 70th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 37(4), 1983, 311-313
LEPIDOPTERA REARED ON A SIMPLE WHEAT GERM DIET
Artificial diets have been used as food in rearing many species of Lepidoptera (Singh, 1972, Bull. N.Z. Dept. Scient. Ind. Res. 209 pp.; Vanderzant, 1974, A. Rev. Entomol. 19: 139-160; Hinks & Byers, 1976, Can. Entomol. 108:1345-1357). They may be synthetic (meridic), or composed of one or more natural products (oligidic) such as wheat germ and homogenized beans. The latter type is especially useful in rearing the larvae of polyphagous species of Lepidoptera, since no specific phagostimulants are required.
Fifty-seven species of Lepidoptera, mainly Noctuidae but also Lymantridae and Geo-metridae (Table 1), were reared from egg to adult on a simple wheat germ diet from 1977-1980. Adult females were collected at either a 15 watt ultraviolet light or sugar bait. Females thus collected were placed in 10 x 6 x 2 cm clear polystyrene boxes and fed a 10-15% sucrose solution until eggs were laid.
Larvae of all species were fed an artificial diet based on that of Hinks and Byers (1976), except that kidney beans were used instead of pea beans. An additional 100 g of wheat germ and 12 ml of formaldehyde were also used. The formaldehyde had no effect on the growth of any species of Lepidoptera bred, although it is known to have an inhibitory effect on the growth of other kinds of insects (Singh & House, 1970, J. Insect Physiol. 16:1969-1982).
Rearing techniques followed those developed by Hinks and Byers (1976) for the genus Euxoa, except that larvae were reared in 10 x 6 x 2 cm clear polystyrene boxes, with 15-20 larvae/box. At the fourth instar the larvae were separated and reared to maturity individually in 15 x 100 mm disposable polystyrene Petri dishes. All larvae were reared at 25-30°C under a photoperiod of 15-9 h light-dark cycle.
Feeding was discontinued at the first visible signs of the prepupal period, and 5-10 larvae were placed in 946 ml polystyrene containers partially filled with moist, sterilized top soil. A strip of paper towel provided a vertical surface for the moths to crawl up upon emergence. The containers were sealed with clear polyethylene and were kept at the same temperature and photoperiod conditions as the larvae.
Newly eclosed larvae of two noctuid species, Feralia comstocki Grt, a general feeder on coniferous trees, and Homorthodes furfurata (Grt.) which has been recorded from Acer spp. (Rockburne & Lafontaine, 1976, The Cutworm Moths of Ontario and Quebec.
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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
Table 1. Lepidoptera reared on artificial wheat germ diet.
Family
Species
Larval foodplant
Geometridae Melanolophia canadaria (Wlk.) Pero morrisonaria (Hy. Edw.)
Lymantriidae Orgyia leucostigma plagiata (Wlk.) Orgyia leucostigma sablensis Neil
Noctuidae Zale minerea (Gn.)
Autographa flagellum (Wlk.) Plusia putnami Grt. Acronicta innotata Gn. Acronicta noctivaga Gn. Crymodes devastator (Brace) Phlagophora iris Gn. Elaphria festivoides (Gn.) Xylena curvimacula (Morr.) Lithophane innominata (Sm.) Eupsilia vinulenta (Grt.) Eupsilia tristigmata (Grt.) Eupsilia morrisoni (Grt.) Siderides maryx (Gn.) Polia imbrifera (Gn.) Polia latex (Gn.) Melanchra adjuncta (Gn.) Melanchra assimilis (Morr.) Lacanobia atlantica (Grt.) Lacanobia grandis (Gn.) Lacanobia lutra (Gn.) Lacanobia legitima (Grt.)
Lacanobia lilacina (Harv.)
Lacinipolia renigera (Steph.) Lacinipolia lorea (Gn.) Lacinipolia olivacea (Morr.) Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haw.) Leucania inermis (Fbs.) Crocigrapha normani (Grt.) Orthosia revicta (Morr.) Orthosia hibisci (Grt.) Homorthodes furfurata (Grt.) Pseudorthodes vecors (Gn.) Tricholita signata (Wlk.)
Agrotis volubilis Harv.
Agrotis ipsilon (Hufn.) Feltia heralis (Grt.) Euxoa diver gens (Wlk.) Euxoa scandens (Riley) Euxoa tristicula (Morr.) Euxoa perpolita (Morr.) Ochropleura plecta (L.)
General feeder General feeder
General feeder
General feeder
General feeder on deciduous trees
Helianthis, Liatris1
Grasses
General feeder on deciduous trees
General feeder on deciduous trees
Grasses
General feeder
General feeder on deciduous trees
General feeder
General feeder or deciduous trees
General feeder
General feeder
General feeder
General feeder on deciduous trees
General feeder on deciduous trees
General feeder
General feeder
General feeder on low plants
General feeder
General feeder
Grasses, general feeder on low
plants Grasses, general feeder on low
plants General feeder General feeder General feeder on low plants Grasses, general feeder Grasses
General feeder on deciduous trees General feeder on deciduous trees General feeder on deciduous trees Acer spp.2
General feeder on low plants Feeds in stems and flowers of
various Compositae Achillea millefolium L., Vaccinium vacillans Torr. Oenothera biennis L.4 General feeder General feeder
General feeder
General feeder on low plants
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Table 1. Continued.
Family Species Larval foodplant
Peridroma saucia (Hbn.) General feeder
Diarsia jucunda (Wlk.) Grasses
Eurois astricta Morr. General feeder on woody plants
Xestia dolosa Franc. General feeder
Xestia normaniana (Grt.) General feeder
Xestia smithii (Snell.) General feeder
Xestia oblata (Grt.) General feeder on low plants
Metalepsis fishii (Grt.) Vaccinium2-3
Anaplectoides prasina (D. & S.) General feeder on low plants
Eueretagrotis perattenta (Grt.) General feeder
1 Tietz, 1972, An Index to the Described Life Histories, Early Stages and Hosts of the Macrolepidoptera of the Continental United States & Canada. 11, A. C. Allyn, Sarasota, 1041 pp. 2Rockburne & Lafontaine (1976).
3 Ferguson, 1975, U.S. Dept. Agric. Tech. Bull. 1521, 49 pp. 4McCabe, 1981, J.N.Y. Entomol. Soc. 89(2): 59-64.
Can. Dept. Agric. Publ. 1593. 164 pp., 613 figs.) refused to eat the artificial diet. Both species were subsequently reared on previously recorded host plants.
Kenneth Neil, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Eraser University, Bur-naby, British Columbia, CANADA V5A 1S6.
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 37(4), 1983, 313-317
EGG PLACEMENT BY PHOEBIS (PIERIDAE) ON CASSIA (LEGUMINOSAE) "ANTICIPATES" THE TROPICAL RAINY SEASON
As the tropical dry season advances, one common response by green plants is a progressive loss of leaves, which is sometimes accompanied by a gradual development of new leaf buds near the end of this period (Janzen, 1967, Evolution 21:620-637). By the time the rainy season is underway, such a plant species exhibits considerable leafing-out, providing herbivorous insects with an expanded food base. At any given Central American locality, not all plant species respond to the same degree to the dry season.
At "Finca La Tigra" on the Atlantic slope (220 m elev.) of Costa Rica's Cordillera Central (near La Virgen, Heredia Province, 10°23'N, 84°07'W) the plant family Legu-minosae exhibits a broad range of dry season response patterns during the longer of two dry periods characteristic of this Premontane Tropical Wet Forest locality (Fig. 1). Many legume genera remain fully leaved throughout the major dry season, although the production of new leaf buds is often low. Others remain evergreen and exhibit considerable leaf replacement at this time. Still others, such as the roadside shrub or small tree (canopy height 2-5 m), Cassia fructicosa Mill., exhibit considerable loss of mature leaves, followed by a gradual development of new leaf buds in the latter part of the major dry period, which usually extends from late December through March. This is also a period of greatly reduced flowering and complete absence of fruits on C. fructicosa (Allen M. Young, unpubl. data, 1973-1982). The guild or assemblage of herbivorous insects associated with this tree species must cope physiologically and behaviorally with this annual cycle of seasonal changes in the availability of various edible plant parts.