Biology studies of tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura Fabricius
Mogili Ramaiah and T Uma Maheswari
Biology, morphometrics and geometrical progression of Spodoptera litura was studied by rearing S. litura under laboratory conditions during 2017. The study was mainly focused on observing morphology of different stages i.e., egg, larva, pupa and adult along with the duration, S. litura had five instars. Measurements of all the stages of insect life cycle were recorded. The width of head capsule was recorded at each moult 0.25, 0.36, 0.50, 0.70 and 1.11 mm respectively. The mean values of head capsule width observed (0.36 to 1.11 mm) and estimated (0.36 to 1.10 mm) and the progression factor in the growth of S. litura was observed as 1.45, which indicated that an increase in head width during successive instars was very slightly varying from Dyar’s law but followed a geometric progression in growth.