Rearing of Ostrinia palustralis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) larvae with a switchover of two kinds of artificial diets

Abstract

A method was established to rear the entire larval stage of Ostrinia palustralis, an oligophagous species that feeds on dock plants Rumex spp., on artificial diets. Silkmate L4M (an artificial diet for the "polyphagous" silkworm mutants) supplemented with 20% R. japonicus dried leaf powder was initially provided to the neonate larvae, and the diet was switched to Silkmate 2M (a standard diet for silkworms) 14 days post-inoculation. These diets supported larval growth with a pupation rate of about 70%. This rate was comparable to that for conventional rearing using fresh host plant leaves. Although the larval period was significantly extended as compared with the conventional rearing, no difference in the pupal weight was found between the two groups. The number of eggs laid by the resultant adult females and the hatchability of the eggs were also comparable. Utilization of the two kinds of artificial diets enabled rearing of this species throughout the year with much reduced labor.

Rearing of the box tree pyralid, Glyphodes perspectalis, larvae using an artificial diet

“…Hatched larvae were not reared on IN-SECTA F-II alone, but on INSECTA F-II with B. microphylla powder; therefore, G. perspectalis hatched larvae appear to require the presence of a feeding stimulant in the host plant, B. microphylla. For O. palustralis (Fukuzawa et al, 2004) and C. medinalis (Furuta et al, 1998), early instars of O. palustralis larvae do not feed on Silkmate L4M alone, and early instars of C. medinalis larvae do not feed on INSECTA F-II alone, but on the artificial diet with powdered host plant leaves. However, later instars of O. palustralis and C. medinalis larvae can feed on the artificial diet alone without powdered host plant leaves, and show complete larval development.…”

“…The other Crambidae species, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis, Ostrinia palustralis, and Maruca vitrata, are reared on artificial diets (INSECTA F-II or Silkmate L4M) with powdered leaves of the host plants (Furuta et al, 1998;Ohmura et al, 2000;Chi et al, 2004;Fukuzawa et al, 2004;Tsuda et al, 2005). We considered that it is possible to stimulate feeding by G. perspectalis through the addition of powdered host plant leaves to the artificial diet.…”

A male-specific odorant receptor conserved through the evolution of sex pheromones in Ostrinia moth species

“…Seven species of Ostrinia were reared according to previous reports 6, 23-26. One-day-old adults and the 5th instar larvae were used in the present study.…”

Advantages and Limitations of Silkworm as an Invertebrate Model in Aging and Lifespan Research

“…Silkworms belong to oligotrophic animals, which only feed on mulberry leaves. In recent decades, researchers have developed a variety of silkworm artificial diets which lead to silkworm feed and reproduce easily standardized in the laboratory [10][11][12][13]. So that we can test the effect of drugs on the lifespan of silkworms by daubing drugs on mulberry leaves or adding drugs into artificial diets [6].…”