Rearing of Anoplophora macularia (Thomson) (Coleoptera : Cerambycidae) on artificial diets

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop a method for rearing Anoplophora macularia larvae in the laboratory. The pupation rates of larvae reared on 4 different artificial diets ranged from 0 to 92%. Emergence rates ranged from 0 to 64%. A total of 46 adults were obtained with a sex ratio (F/M) of 1.1 : 1. Larval periods lasted from 130 to 287 days for males and from 98 to 275 days for females. Six to 10 and 6 to 9 stadia were observed for male and female larvae, respectively. Pupal periods were 14-21 days for males and 10-26 days for females. Adults mated and produced viable eggs, and hatched larvae fed and grew well on these diets. Based on the emergence rates, we chose a semi-synthetic diet, which is composed of agar, citrus sawdust, methyl paraben, sorbic acid and water, for use in further studies on large-scale breeding of A. macularia.