Publication Details

Year Published

1989

Publication

J. Entomol. Sci. Vol. 25 no. 3.:p. 475-480

Abstract

An artificial diet was developed for labortory rearing of the cottonwood leaf beetle, Chrysomela scripta F., and the imported willow leaf beetle, Plagiodera versicolira (Laicharting). To reduce microbial contamination of the media, procedures were developed for the separating egg masses and sterilizing egg surfaces. Cottonwood leaf beetle larvae reared from neonate to adult on this artificial diet had greater mortality, took longer to develop, and were smaller than larvae reared on fresh poplar foliage. Adult longeviety was similar for both diet-and foliage-reared larave. Survival and adult fresh weight of imported williow leaf beetle larave reared on the artificial diet were similiar to those of the cohorts reared on fresh poplar foliage. However, individuals reared on artificial diet took longer to develop and produced shorter-lived adults than cohorts reared on the foliage. Larvae of both species would not eat fresh foliage after being fed on the artificial diet. Adults of both species maintained on the artificial diet laid few eggs but resumed normal oviposition when fed fresh foliage. This artificial diet proved useful for rearing larvae and maintaining adults during perios when fresh foliage was limited.

Keywords

Citation

Bauer, Leah S.; Meerschaert, Joann; Forrester, Thomas O. 1989. An Artificial Diet for Cottonwood and Imported Williow leaf Beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and Comparative Performance on Poplar Foliage^1,2. J. Entomol. Sci. Vol. 25 no. 3.:p. 475-480