Life in the lab: unlocking the biology and laboratory rearing of the litchi moth, Cryptophlebia peltastica (Meyrick) (1921)

Résumé

Cryptophlebia peltastica (Meyrick) (1921) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is an agricultural and economically important pest of litchis and macadamias in South Africa. Non-chemical based control options for C. peltastica are required to reduce the economic importance of the pest. Understanding the biology of C. peltastica and effectively rearing this pest in the laboratory will facilitate the search for alternative control options. We adapted the Thaumatotibia leucotreta rearing protocol to successfully rear C. peltastica in the laboratory for the first time, allowing us to determine aspects of its biology. Females oviposited an average of 180.58 eggs per day, with a maximum of 506 eggs oviposited over their lifespan. Egg viability was 90.56 %. Five larval instars were determined using head capsule width measurement. The biology of C. peltastica was similar to that of T. leucotreta, also in the Grapholitini tribe of tortricids. This study is the first to report successful laboratory rearing and biological parameters of C. peltastica, the results of which have already proven to be useful in the discovery of a novel virus, which has been developed into a biopesticide and development of a postharvest cold disinfestation treatment.

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