Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T21:23:37.797Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Quantitative Relationship Between Consumption and Excretion of Dry Matter by Larvae of the Pale Western Cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

R. Kasting
Affiliation:
Canada Agriculture Research Station, Lethbridge, Alberta
A. J. McGinnis
Affiliation:
Canada Agriculture Research Station, Lethbridge, Alberta

Extract

The quantities of excreta produced by aphids (Auclair, 1957) and locusts (Dadd, 1960) have been used to estimate the relative consumption of different food materials. Likewise the quantities of food consumed by some other insects have been conveniently estimated by counting fecal pellets (Thorsteinson, 1953; Ito, 1960). Ito (1960) stated without supporting data “there is a highly significant correlation between the amount of mulberry leaves ingested and numbers of feces produced”. Nevertheless there appear to be no published quantitative measurements made on individual insects that show the relationship between the quantities of food consumed and excreta passed. This note gives the relationship between the quantities of dry matter (D. M.) consumed and excreted for three larval instars of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr., fed two varieties of etiolated wheat sprouts, Thatcher (Triticum aestivum L. emend Thell.) and Golden Ball (T. durum Desf.). In addition the relationship between D. M. consumed and numbers of fecal pellets produced or D. M. excreted by fifth-instar larvae were determined for two diets that differed considerably in nutritional value.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1962

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

Auclair, J. L. 1957. Developments in resistance of plants to insects. Ann. Rept. Ent. Soc. Ont. 88: 717.Google Scholar
Dadd, R. H. 1960. The nutritional requirements of locusts. III. Carbohydrate requirements and utilization. J. Ins. Physiol. 5: 301316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goulden, C. H. 1939. Methods of statistical analysis. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.Google Scholar
Ito, Toshio. 1960. Effect of sugars on feeding of larvae of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. J. Ins. Physiol. 5: 95107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasting, R., and McGinnis, A. J.. 1959. Nutrition of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). II. Dry matter and nitrogen economy of larvae fed on sprouts of a hard red spring wheat and a durum wheat. Can. J. Zool. 37: 713720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kasting, R., and McGinnis, A. J.. 1961. Comparison of tissues from solid- and hollow-stemmed spring wheats during growth. II. Food values determined with the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Can. J. Zool. 39: 273280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGinnis, A. J., and Kasting, R.. 1959. Nutrition of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). I. Effects of underfeeding and artificial diets on growth and development, and a comparison of wheat sprouts of Thatcher, Triticum aestivum L., and Golden Ball. T. durum Desf., as food. Can. J. Zool. 37: 259266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGinnis, A. J., and Kasting, R.. 1960. Nutrition of the pale western cutworm, Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). III. Lyophilized sprouts and leaves of wheat as a basal diet for larvae, and effects of supplementation with L-leucine. Can. J. Zool. 38: 585592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorsteinson, A. J. 1953. The chemotactic responses that determine host specificity in an oligophagous insect (Plutella maculipennis (Curt.) Lepidoptera). Can. J. Zool. 31: 5272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar