Biology of Anicla infecta (Ochsenheimer, 1816) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Noctuinae), under laboratory conditions

Abstract

Larvae of Anicla infecta (Ochsenheimer, 1816) (Noctuidae) feed upon many grasses and may be harmful to cereals and fodder of economic importance. This study was developed aiming to contribute to knowledge of the biology of this species. The rearing was done in an environmental chamber with the following settings: temperature of 25 +/- 1 degrees C; relative humidity of 70% +/- 10%, and photoperiod of L14:D10. The larvae fed on ryegrass, Lolium multiflorum Lam. The results express the mean and standard error for the length of every stage in days. For each stage we observed the following time of development: egg 3.2 +/- 0.09; larvae 18.7 +/- 0.07; pre-pupae 3.3 +/- 0.04; pupae 12.6 +/- 0.14; and adult longevity was 12.1 +/- 1.03. Also the pre-egg-laying period was 4.4 +/- 0.59; the egg-laying period was 8.1 +/- 0.84; and the post-egg-laying period was 0.3 +/- 0.14. The mean number of egg-laying cycles per female was 6.7 +/- 0.73; that of eggs per cycle was 77.5 +/- 4.37; and total eggs per female was 521.4 +/- 47.36.

Bionomy of Anicla mahalpa Schaus, 1898 (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Noctuinae), in the laboratory

“…The phases of egg, larva and pupa of A. mahalpa were rather longer than those referred to by Foester and Mello (1996) at 22 °C (egg: 6.0 days; larva and prepupae 27.4 days; and pupae; 20.5 days) which have to be assigned to Anicla ignicans (Guenée, 1852) as mentioned in Teston et al (2001).…”

“…by Foester and Mello (1996) for A. ignicans reared at a temperature of 22 °C (1,807 513 eggs and 227.6 eggs per oviposition), but they are different from those related by Teston et al (2001) for A. infecta reared at 25 °C, the values of which were below the third part.…”

“…The larvae of this species rest on the host plants (Figure 2c), similar of other Anicla species, in opposition of the most Noctuinae, characterized by underground habits (Teston et al 2001). The larvae exhibeit variable colour patterns from green until dark brown (Figure 2d) as described for the A. infecta (Crumb, 1956).…”

“…These results are similar to those found of several host plants (Holloway et al, 1992;Scoble, 1995). Larvae of Anicla Grote, 1874, however rest on their host plants, which are mainly grasses (Foerster and Mello, 1996;Teston et al, 2001). This genus has eleven species (Poole, 1989), but biological knowledge is restricted to two species (Foerster and Mello, 1996;Angulo and Olivares, 1997;Teston et al, 2001).…”

“…During the change of feeding, head capsules were collected to measure and evaluate size and number of instars. Head capsules were measured under a stereomicroscope provided with an ocular micrometer with accuracy of a hundredth millimeter, and the correspondent measures of different 25 °C determined high mortality of both A. infecta (Teston et al, 2001) andA. ignicans (Foester andMello, 1996).…”