LIFE HISTORY AND LARVAL PERFORMANCE OF THE BLUE TIGER BUTTERFLY TIRUMALA LIMNIACE (LEPIDOPTERA: RHOPALOCERA: DANAIDAE).

The study exhibits that the Danaid butterfly Tirumala limniace would be on wings and breed seasonally with July to March and September - November is the most favorable period. The monophagous larvae utilize only Wattakaka volubilis on which the larvae were reared and studied. At about 28° C at 30° C, the life history was completed in 21-28 days, with eggs laying 3-4, larva1 1-16 and pupae 7-8 days. The short life history permitted 9-10 broods yearly making the butterfly multivoltine. The values of consumption index (CI), growth rate (GR), approximate digestibility (AD) across the instars decreased as the larvae aged. The average values of the CI and GR are 3.90, 0.56 respectively, and that of AD is 90.2. In contrast the values of both efficiency of conversion of digestive food (ECD) and efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI) increased up to penultimate instar as the larvae aged and a slight decrease in the final instars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]