Nr.of instars in Lepidoptera

[Oliver Miler]

Dear colleagues,
I am a PhD student at the Limnological Institute of the University of
Konstanz, Germany and I am working with moths of the subfamily
Nymphalinae, especially the water veneer Acentria ephemerella. I am
studying the life-history of Acentria and I would like to know (since
it is for this species until now not well-known, at least as far as I
know), how many instars moths and butterflies, especially Nymphalinae,
have and what the variability between species is. I have have been told,
that there are typically 4 to 5 instars, but through searching in the
Internet and published papers, I have read that there may be also six
or seven (or more) instars. I am very thankfull for any comments and
answers to my e-mail, since I have worked in the field of fish ecology
before and am just in the middle of learning more and more about the
biology of moths & butterflies.

Thank You very much in advance
Best regards
Oliver Miler


----------------------
Oliver Miler
Limnological Institute 
University of Konstanz
Mainaustr. 252
78464 Konstanz

 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl