help - I need leaves!!!

[Nigel Venters]

Neil wrote:

>I suspect that moving the larvae onto a different hostplant may not be a
good
>idea. It depends on the species but some don''t cope with a change well.
>Bombyx mori the "true" silkworm for example  is reputed to be able to
survive
>on wilted lettuce but once put on Mulberry it won't go back on Lettuce.


As someone who spends all his time breeding different species of butterflies
and moths from all around the World...I have found that it is the exception
to the rule that species don't transfer well from one foodplant to
another...and in the majority of cases they will do so (And back again)
without problem. Of course a few species don't cope well...I found when
breeding Charaxes aubyni australis from Africa...(for example) that the
although the larvae accepted the foodplant change the imagos were around
half the usual size....however they paired and the offspring when fed on the
correct foodplant produced normal adults that were viable and continued to
produce normal further generations. I also bred Bombyx mori as a child on
Lettuce....I had no Mulberry leaves...but the larvae thrived and produced
normal sized adults....Neil...have you tried this experiment....and found
that the larvae will definitely not accept Lettuce after eating Mulberry
leaves? Or is it just hearsay and speculation on your behalf? How about some
examples of species from your own breeding when the foodplant change was not
accepted?
Nigel


----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil Jones" <neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk>
To: "Sunsol" <SUNSOL at prodigy.net>; <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: help - I need leaves!!!


> On Tuesday 09 April 2002 07:49 pm, Sunsol wrote:
> > This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> >
> > ------=_NextPart_000_0087_01C1DFBC.90CD3DA0
> > Content-Type: text/plain;
> > charset="iso-8859-1"
> > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
> >
> > What else do they eat? Persimmons? Birch? Walnut? Has anything else =
> > leafed out? Sally
> >
> The book for silkmoths is "A Silkmoth Rearer's Handbook".
> It has more than 250 pages of detailed species account ,genus by genus.
> If someone has bred it you get the feeling it is in the book.
> It is published by the Amateur Entomologists' Society in the UK.
> http://www.theaes.org/ It is written from a British perspective of course
and
> what we mean by Walnut is Juglans regia not nigra and our Birches are
> Betula pendula and B. pubescens.
>
> It says for Actias l "Foodplants. In Canada Whiite birch (Betula
payrifera)
> is prefered . In USA various Juglandaceae preferred especially pecan, also
> Sweet Gum and persiommon, also has been found on, and bred on ironwood,
oaks,
> elms, willow, trembling aspen, maples, hickory, butternut, walnut, hazel
> ,alder, basswood, cherry and beech. In capitivity appears to thrive best
on
> walnut or birch."
>
> I suspect that moving the larvae onto a different hostplant may not be a
good
> idea. It depends on the species but some don''t cope with a change well.
>
> Bombyx mori the "true" silkworm for example  is reputed to be able to
survive
> on wilted lettuce but once put on Mulberry it won't go back on Lettuce.
> --
> Neil Jones- Neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk http://www.butterflyguy.com/
> NOTE NEW WEB ADDRESS
> "At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
> butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
> National Nature Reserve
>
>
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