Abstract
The Japanese nine-spotted moth Amata fortunei has not been successfully reared using artificial diets. We investigated three diets for rearing A. fortunei from egg to adult: (i) leaves of common dandelion Taraxacum officinale (DL); (ii) an artificial diet used to rear the silkworm Bombyx mori (Insecta LFS®; AD); and (iii) a mixture of AD and an artificial mouse diet (MF). The survival rate from the first instar to adult emergence on AD + MF (80.77%) was significantly higher than that on AD or DL (30.77 and 20.0%, respectively). No significant differences in developmental periods at each stage were found among the diets. Moreover, body size indices of larvae reared on AD + MF were the same as or greater than those of larvae reared on the other diets and of wild individuals. Larval nutritional indices showed that food requirements changed after the third instar; this agrees with our observations of cannibalism and survival rate. Our results suggest that AD + MF is a suitable artificial diet for A. fortunei.
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