Occurrence and Biology of Semilooper, Hypena sagitta (Fabricius) (= Dichromia orosia Cramer) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on Indian Ipecac, Tylophora Indica (Burm. F) Merr.

Abstract

Indian ipecac, Tylophora indica (Burm.f) Merr. is an important medicinal plant grown in India. Hypena sagitta, a semilooper pest on this plant caused up to 70 % defoliation when the incidence is severe. Occurrence of the pest was observed mainly during August-December, coinciding with the flowering of the plant. Eggs were light yellow, spherical, netlike and were laid singly on leaves. On an average, each female laid 172 eggs which took 4.4 days for hatching. There were five larval instars in the life cycle of H. sagitta with total larval period of 25.5days. The pupae were brown coloured and pupal period lasted for 7.7 days. The total developmental period ranged from 36-40 days, with the adult longevity of 21.5 days. Feeding preference of H. sagitta on the plant parts of T. indica showed that growing flower buds and flowers (1.36 g) were most preferred, followed by leaves (0.42 g) and fruits (0.10 g) for feeding on weight basis.