Study On Biology

Clanis bilineata tsingtauica Mell is a kind of agricultural important pest. In recent years, this insect is deeply favored by people because of its richness in nutrient elements, low fat and tasting delicious. At present, most researches focused on nutrient elements of C. bilineata tsingtauica. Little is known about the biology of the insect. To compare the developmental stage of two geographical populations at various temperatures, we had studied several biological characteristics and artificial breeding techniques of C. bilineata tsingtauica, which would be useful at large scale for commercialization purpose. The main results are summarized as follows:1. The helmet breadths, body length and weight of C. bilineata tsingtauica’s larva were measured by the vernier caliper and electronic analytical balance. The results showed that the helmet widths were increased with age by a certain percentage growth for the both geographic populations C. bilineata tsingtauica. The body lengths were also increased at a certain proportion. Changes in body weights were quite striking from the weight of the end of the fifth instar to the beginning of the first instar, which increased more than two thousand times. It will be useful for its production at large scale for commercialization purpose.2. Larvae from two geographic populations were reared under the laboratory conditions. We found that development duration of the entire generation from Jiangsu population which average development period was257.3455±0.0814days were obvious longest than from Hainan which average development period was57.3415±0.086days. The population from Jiangsu province could finish only1generation in one year, whereas for the population from Hainan province, we estimated that there were more than2generations every year.3. Development periods at each stage from two geographic populations were recorded separately at19,22,25,28and31℃. Based on these results, lower development threshold and the cumulative degree-days required for the development of each life stages (for both populations) of C. bilineata tsingtauica were estimated by a linear model. With the values of lower development threshold and cumulative degree-days we could estimate that the population from Hainan province might finish4-5generations every year, but the Jiangsu population might finish only once.4. Survival rates at each stage from two geographic populations were recorded separately at19,22,25,28and31℃. Data were analyzed using pseudo-values, which were produced by jackknife re-sampling. The results suggested that the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) value of the Hainan population was highest at28℃, which was significantly difference than other temperature. The suitable optimum temperature for breeding Hainan populations was found.5. The total food consumption were recorded from3rd to5th instar stages using the contrast experiments of weight measurement method and the contrast experiments of same age at19、22、25、28and31℃. The results showed that the developmental period was the shortest at28℃and most conducive to weight gain.7. A method of indoor artificial feeding C. bilineata tsingtauica was obtained during three years. In this way, survival rate, mating rate and fecundity could be improved and increase production.