LIFE CYCLE OF JUNONIA LEMONIAS (L.) ON BARLERIA PRIONITIS (L.) AND DIPTERACANTHUS PROSTRATUS (POIR.) NEES AT ANDHRA UNIVERSITY CAMPUS, VISAKHAPATNAM.

. - . The Nymphalidae butterfly Junonia lemonias Linnaeus(Lemon Pansy) was found throughout the year at Andhra University campus. The larval host plants available at the study site include Barleria prionitis and Dipteracanthus prostratus. In the present paper the life cycle duration and larval performance observed on the leaves of Barleria prionitis and Dipteracanthus prostrates is presented. In natural conditions at Andhra University campus the host availability, oviposition, pairing and egg deposition were observed. The behavior and morphological characters of eggs, caterpillars, pupae and adult emergence were observed in the laboratory at 28o-30oc. The life history was completed in 21-31 days with egg hatching 3, larvae 12-19 and pupae 6-9 in the former and 23-32 days with egg hatching 3, larvae 13-20, and pupae 7-9 days in the case of latter. The values of consumption index (CI), growth rate (GR), and approximate digestibility (AD) across the instars decreased as the larvae aged. The average values of the CI and GR are 9.2, 1.29 in former and 8.9, 0.93 in latter respectively, and that of AD is 99.1and 99.2. In contrast the values of both efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD) and efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI) either increased or decreased from instar to instar. - See more at:.