Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T02:15:35.186Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF FOOD CONSUMPTION, ASSIMILATION, AND GROWTH IN LEPTINOTARSA DECEMLINEATA (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE) ON TWO HOST PLANTS1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

M. A. Latheef
Affiliation:
Biology Department, Carleton University, Ottawa
D. G. Harcourt
Affiliation:
Ottawa Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa

Abstract

Larvae of Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) reared on tomato fed longer, consumed more foliage, and had a lower survival rate than when reared on potato, its principal host. On both plants, a direct linear relationship was obtained between food consumption and larval growth. Potato was the more efficient of the two plants in terms of food conversion to body matter. This was reflected by increased weight gain of the larvae and greater pupal size.

Adults from larvae reared on tomato were smaller and less fecund than those from larvae reared on potato. Half of them rejected tomato as food. However, egg-laying increased when they were transferred to potato after 50 days. The present investigation indicates that L. decemlineata can survive and attain maturity on tomato in the absence of its principal host plant. However, when potato is once again available, it is able to increase growth, accelerate development, and achieve a greater reproductive potential.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bongers, W. 1970. Aspects of host-plant relationship of the Colorado beetle. Meded. LandbHoogesch. Wageningen 70–10, p. 177.Google Scholar
Buhr, H., Toball, R., and Schreiber, K.. 1958. Die wirkung von einigen pflanzlichen sonderstoffen, insbesondere von alkaloiden, auf die entwicklung der larven des kartoffelkäfers (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say). Ent. exp. appl. 1: 209224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harcourt, D. G. 1971. Population dynamics of Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) in eastern Ontario. III. Major population processes. Can. Ent. 103: 10491061.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsiao, T. A. and Fraenkel, G.. 1968. Selection and specificity of the Colorado potato beetle for solanaceous and nonsolanaceous plants. Ant. ent. Soc. Am. 61: 493503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mukerji, M. K. and Guppy, J. C.. 1970. A quantitative study of food consumption and growth in Pseudaletia unipuncta (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Can. Ent. 102: 11791188.Google Scholar
Mukerji, M. K. and LeRoux, E. J.. 1969. A study on energetics of Podisus maculiventris (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). Can. Ent. 101: 449460.Google Scholar
Rafes, P. M. 1967. Some biological premises for estimation of the productivity of herbivores in forest biogeocenoses (ecosystems). p. 589610. In Petrusewicz, K. (Ed.), Secondary productivity of terrestrial ecosystems. Polish Acad. Sci., Warsaw, 879 p.Google Scholar
Soo Hoo, C. F. and Fraenkel, G.. 1966. The consumption, digestion, and utilization of food plants by a polyphagous insect, Prodenia eridania (Cramer). J. Insect Physiol. 12: 711730.Google Scholar
Thorsteinson, A. J. 1960. Host selection in phytophagous insects. A. Rev. Ent. 5: 193218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turnbull, A. L. 1962. Quantitative studies of the food of Linyphia triangularis Clerck (Araneae: Linyphiidae). Can. Ent. 94: 12331249.Google Scholar
Waldbauer, G. P. 1962. The growth and reproduction of maxillectomized tobacco hornworms feeding on normally rejected non-solanaceous plants. Ent. exp. appl. 5: 147158.Google Scholar
Waldbauer, G. P. 1968. The consumption and utilization of food by insects. In Adv. Insect Physiol. 5: 229288.Google Scholar