We studied the effect of temperature and supplementary nutrition (honey water) on development, longevity and oviposition of the litchi fruit borer, Conopomorpha sinensis Bradley (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae). Temperature had significant effects on the duration of the pupal period, pupal emergence rate, adult longevity and oviposition. The pupal period increased as the temperature declined. Pupal emergence rates were significantly higher at 20 °C, 25 °C and 30 °C than at 15 °C and 35 °C. When the temperature was lower, adult longevity was longer. The provision of supplementary nutrition significantly increased adult longevity, but there was no significant difference in longevity among a series of concentrations. In addition, temperature had a significant effect on oviposition, with the most eggs being laid at 25 °C. There was no significant difference in the numbers of eggs laid at supplementary nutrition levels of 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50% honey water, although the number laid was approximately 6.33–7.56 fold greater than in the control. We found that the biological characteristics of C. sinensis change with temperature or concentration of honey water and these results provide a reference for rearing C. sinensis artificially and for forecasting.