Environmental Entomology (1984) 13, 29-35

Steven L. Riley, Tom S. Bellows Jr., John C. Owens and Ellis W. Huddleston (1984)
Consumption and utilization of blue grama grass, Bouteloua gracilis, by range caterpillar larvae, Hemileuca oliviae (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)
Environmental Entomology 13 (1), 29-35
Abstract: Consumption and utilization of blue grama grass, Bouteloua gracilis (H.B.K.), by 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-instar larvae of the range caterpillar, Hemileuca oliviae Cockerell, were studied under controlled laboratory conditions. The energy budget equation, ingestion = egestion + production + maintenance, was used, and parameters were calculated for mass-time (mg/mg per day) and caloric (calories/mg per day) rates. Rates ranged from 0.59 to 2.27, 0.37 to 0.94, 0.05 to 0.18 and 0.16 to 1.16 mg/mg per day for ingestion, egestion, production, and maintenance, respectively. Each rate exhibited a general decline with age. The approximate digestibility of the grass ranged from 36.7 to 58.7%. Compared with feeding studies with other insects, efficiencies of conversion of ingested material (7.7 to 13.2%) and digested material (13.3 to 30.8%) were relatively low. Larvae appeared to compensate for their relatively high metabolic rates and low production efficiencies by high consumption rates.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Hemileuca oliviae	Bouteloua (crop)	U.S.A. (SW)
	Hemileuca oliviae	Bouteloua (crop)	U.S.A. (mid S)