Discriminatory of some morphometry and biological aspects of the Cycad blue butterfly, Chilades pandava reared on Cycas and Zamia ornamental palms

Abstract

The serious blue butterfly, Chilades pandava -Horsfield, 1829- (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) is consider one of the main destructive insect pests for ornamental palms Cycas and Zamia. Biological and morphological measurements were carried out of C. pandava stages reared on Cycas revoluta (Cycadaceae) and Zamia encephalartoides (Zamiaceae). In description details, non-significant variations were recorded between the two gender of cycad blue butterfly in the obtained data, but the male adult was more densely blue or violet than female adult. By the aid of SEM, C. pandava all stages were distinct by long and thick hairs covered all the body. The morphometric characters namely, length, width and venation of wings, body length, forewing, hindwing could be as a guide for taxonomic discrimination. The data showed that the life cycle duration of C. pandava was ranged between 20.64 to 21.7 days. The developmental periods of different C. pandava stages are slightly higher on zamia than cycas palms. This investigation detected that a high survival rate was found on Cycas palms (86%) than the survived rate recording on Zamia palms (82%). In the present study, the described morphometric characters could be used as a guide for taxonomic discrimination of this pest. Consequently, this study added a valuable knowledge about C. pandava to have sound decisions for proposal of its management and conservation in Egypt.

Life history traits of cycad blue butterfly, Luthrodes pandava Horsfield (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) on cycad hosts in an Island ecosystem

“…Infestation by L. pandava on Zamia has also been reported (Batt et al, 2016, 2019; Hassan et al, 2022). Z. furfuracea has been recorded here as an alternative host, belonging to same plant group (Cycadaceae) for L. pandava .…”

“…Also, a species of the genus Zamia (Zamiaceae) is reported here for the first time in Indian Island's serving as an alternative host plant and offered as larval food influences fecundity. However, this genus has also been reported as a host of the cycad blue butterfly in Egypt (Hassan et al, 2022).…”