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- Title
Development and feeding efficiency of Malacosoma neustrium larvae reared with Quercus spp. leaves.
- Authors
Verdinelli, M.; Sanna-Passino, G.
- Abstract
Observations on larval development of Malacosoma neustrium were conducted both in a cork oak stand and in the laboratory by using leaves of different host trees (cork oak, holm oak: and downy oak) as food source. Instars were determined using head capsule and frass measurements. In the field the larvae progressed up to the fifth instar before pupating, and the increase in head capsule width followed Dyar's Rule with a rate of increase (R.I.) value of 1.74. The same number of instars was determined for the larvae reared with cork oak (R.I. = 1.73) and holm oak (R.I. = 1.70) leaves. The caterpillars reared with downy oak foliage completed larval development in five, six and seven instars and the R.I. values obtained were 1.60, 1.52 and 1.44 respectively. A lower mortality was recorded for the larvae reared on holm oak. Growth and feeding indices were determined for the larvae from the third up to the last: instar. The highest leaf consumption was detected for the fifth instar larvae reared on holm oak. For the caterpillars which completed five instars before pupating, the relative consumption rate (RCR) decreased from the third up to the fifth instar from 4.8 to 1.7 (cork oak), from 7.4 to 3.3 (holm oak) and from 14.3 to 2.1 (downy oak). The relative growth rate (RGR) was highest during the fourth stadium (0.24, 0.27 and 0.33 For larvae reared with cork oak, holm oak and downy oak leaves respectively) and decreased in the fifth instar (0.09, 0.14 and 0.14 for larvae reared with cork oak, holm oak and downy oak leaves respectively), probably because of greater expense of energy due to the approach of maturity. Feeding and growth indices could be useful to define a defoliation prediction model.
- Subjects
TENT caterpillars; LARVAE; OAK; ANIMAL-plant relationships; DEVELOPMENTAL biology
- Publication
Annals of Applied Biology, 2003, Vol 143, Issue 2, p161
- ISSN
0003-4746
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1744-7348.2003.tb00282.x