Abstract
We studied the biology of Tiracola grandirena (Herrich-Schäffer, 1868) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Hadeninae) at 25 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 10% RH and 14 hours of photo phase. Three experiments, using 150 larvae each, were conducted for the larval stage. In the first, used to assess the duration and survival of all stages, insects were reared individually and fed an artificial diet (Grenee). In the second, individuals were also reared separately, but were fed leaves of 10 plants from different families. In the third, the larvae were not individualised, the food plants were rotated such as to provide three plant species every 48 hours. In the first experiment, the viability of the eggs, larvae, pupae and prepupae was 91.9, 94.7, 32.49 and 43.5%, respectively. The average duration of the egg, larvae, prepupae, pupae and adult were 6.0, 25.3, 25.7, 21.4 and 12.7 days, respectively. The prolonged prepupal period indicates that T. grandirena can develop larval (prepupal) diapause. The results of the experiments with different host plants showed that T. grandirena is polyphagous at species, population and individual level.
Highlights
Tiracola Moore, 1881 is cosmopolitan and includes only 10 species (Poole, 1989)
Considering the lack of knowledge about the biology of T. grandirena, a polyphagous species, combined with the damage caused by T. plagiata on crops of economic interest such as bananas, cocoa, tobacco, orange, castor, cassava and sisal (e.g. Robinson, 1975) in the Eastern Hemisphere, this study aimed to evaluate the main biological parameters of T. grandirena under controlled conditions
The entire larval period of T. grandirena corresponded to approximately 56% of the entire life cycle of the species
Summary
Tiracola Moore, 1881 is cosmopolitan and includes only 10 species (Poole, 1989). Tiracola grandirena (HerrichSchäffer, 1868) is the most widely distributed species in the Americas, occurring in countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Brazil (Todd and Poole, 1980; Specht and Corseuil, 2001; Becker, 2002; Specht et al, 2004). In the Northern Hemisphere, the distribution of T. grandirena is restricted to the 20th parallel (between the towns of Jalapa, Cordoba and Misantla, Mexico) (Becker, 2002), Braz. 205-211 whereas in the Southern Hemisphere it reaches parallel 30, in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Specht et al, 2004) Biol., 2014, vol 74, no. 1, p. 205-211 whereas in the Southern Hemisphere it reaches parallel 30, in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (Specht et al, 2004)
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