Volume 3, Issue 4

Life history and larval performance of the Common Leopard butterfly, Phalanta phalantha Drury(Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera: Nymphalidae)

Author

M. Bhupathi Rayalu1,2,*, V. Krishna Kumari3, M. Tarakeswara Naidu1 and J.B. Atluri1

Abstract

The life history of the Common leopard butterfly, Phalanta phalantha and larval performance in terms of food consumption and utilization, and the length of life cycle on its host plant Flacourtia indicaare described for the first time. The study was conducted during 2009 at Visakhapatnam (17o 42' N and 8218' E), South India. Phalanta phalantha completes its life cycle in 19 – 21 (20.20  0.84) days (Egg: 3; Larva: 10-12; Pupa: 6 days). The values of nutritional indices across the instars were AD (Approximate Digestibility) 66.49 – 96.29%; ECD (Efficiency of Conversion of Digested food) 1.95 – 30.12%; ECI (Efficiency of Conversion of Ingested food) 1.88 – 20.03%, measured at the temperature of 28 ± 20 C and RH of 80 ± 10% in the laboratory. These relatively high values of ECD and ECI explain at least partially the ecological success of Phalanta phalantha in the urban environment of Visakhapatnam.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.62226/ijarst20140448

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