Bionomics of predatory butterfly, apefly (Spalgis epius) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) on mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in Mulberry

Abstract

Apefly, Spalgis epius (Westwood) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) is a small phytophagous butterfly. The larvae feed on the bugs of Pseudococcidae, Hemiptera. In the present study, the development of immature stages and life cycle of this predatory butterfly was observed on Paracoccus marginatus (Williams and Granara de Willink) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in mulberry under laboratory conditions. The collected eggs have been stored in the laboratory at 40-80% Relative Humidity and 25-30 °C. The eggs had been disk-shaped and greenish-blue in colour, sculptured and each top and bottom compacted with micropylar despair withinside the top and hatched in 3.2 ± 0.15 days. It beneath is going 4 larval instars and the entire larval duration lasts 12.99 ± 0.01 days. The top surface of the larval body turned completely evolved with a wax coating. The mold on the hard dorsal side of the pupa resembled the face of a monkey structure. The prepupal larva reduced in size and the surface of the body turned dull black colour. The duration of the pupal period was recorded as 10.07 ± 0.03 days. The overall duration from egg to adult emergence was observed as 30.64 ± 0.31 days. In adults, the patch is larger in females than that in males. The information of the development and life cycle of S. epius on natural/ factitious hosts on numerous crops is advantageous to develop and standardize the mass culturing techniques for exploration of this capability species for predation of mealybugs.