European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

METAMORPHSIS OF PRINCEPS DEMOLEUS (L.) ON CITRUS TRIFOLIATA (L.) (FAMILY: RUTACEAE)

K. Ella Rao and *G. Sujan Chandar

ABSTRACT

The papilionidae butterfly Princeps demoleus (L.) (lime butterfly) it occurs throughout the year. The Metamorphosis of Princeps demoleus was studied at Rani Chandra Mani Devi bio-diversity Park, china waltair, Visakhapatnam using the leaves of Citrus trifoliata as the larval host both in laboratory and in the natural conditions. The behavior and morphological characters of eggs, caterpillars, pupae and adult emergence were observed in the laboratory at 28o-30oc. The life cycle was completed in 31-32 days, with egg hatching 3-4 larvae 17-19, and pupae 10-11 days. The values of consumption index (CI), growth rate (GR), and approximate digestibility (AD) across the instars decreased as the larvae aged. The average values of the CI and GR are 3.86, 0.40 respectively, and that of AD is 81.78. But the values of both efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD) and efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI) either increased or decreased from instar to instar.

Keywords: Metamorphsis, Instars, Food utilization indices, Growth rate consumption index, Consumption Index, approximate digestibility.