EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CITRUS BUTTERFLIES, PAPILIO DEMOLEUS AND PAPILIO POLYTES ON ACID LIME, CITRUS AURANTIFOLIA

The physiological and metabolic response of insects to varied temperature has getting enormous attention in recent times. Insects are poikilothermic organisms; their growth, development, reproduction and survival depend on temperature. The citrus butterflies, Papilio demoleus L. and Papilio polytes L. are two important butterfly pests on citrus crops. The larval stage of pest inflicts economic damage by defoliating large quantity of foliage. The hypothesis that the development of these citrus butterfly species mainly depends upon surrounding temperature was studied under controlled laboratory condition at constant temperature of 23, 28 and 32 degrees C on leaves of acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle). The results revealed an incubation period of 3.39, 3.06 and 2.82 days respectively, at 23, 28 and 32 degrees C for P. demoleus whereas the incubation period was 3.83, 3.61 and 3.08 days respectively at 23, 28 and 32 degrees C for P. polytes. The larval duration ranged from 11.18 to 16.49 and 13.15 to 14.88 days, respectively for P. demoleus and P. polytes at different temperature regimes. The pupal duration of 8.83 to 17.53 and 8.40 to 13.36 days were observed for P. demoleus and P. polytes respectively. The P. demoleus and P. polytes took 27.83 to 44.67 and 31.78 to 41.47 days respectively, for completion of their entire life cycle. Overall, development of two citrus butterfly species was significantly affected by temperature and temperature was found to be a key factor that influenced the development of these two citrus butterflies on acid lime.