ABSTRACT
Argyrotaenia sphaleropa (Meyrick, 1909) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) constitutes an important pest of temperate fruit trees in Southern Brazil and Uruguay. In this study, the adequateness of persimmon, apple and grapevine leaves for the development of A. sphaleropa was assessed. For this purpose young and old persimmon leaves of the cultivar Fuyu, old leaves of apple trees of the cultivar Fuji and old grapevine leaves of the cultivar Chardonnay were surveyed in the laboratory at 26 ± 1º C, 70 ± 10% relative air humidity and 12h day length. The insects had a better development when reared on apple and grapevine leaves. On this diet a higher viability of the individuals from the caterpillar stage to the phase of adult emergence (caterpillar-adult) could be observed. On young persimmon leaves the viability of individuals in these stages was significantly lower than on apple and grapevine leaves while on old persimmon leaves the insect did not complete the caterpillar stage. The medium duration of a generation (T) of A. sphaleropa was longer on young persimmon leaves (T = 40.1 days) than on grapevine (T = 38.3 days) and on apple leaves (T = 36.5 days), whereas the net reproduction rate (Ro) was higher on grapevine leaves (Ro = 45.16) than on apple and persimmon leaves (Ro = 38.62 and 11.63, respectively). The results of this study demonstrate that grapevine and apple leaves were more suitable for the development of A. sphaleropa than young persimmon leaves. On old leaves of the latter host the insect did not complete the caterpillar stage.
KEY WORDS
South American tortricid moth;
Argyrotaenia sphaleropa
; life table; fecundity; biology
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