Biological aspects of Dirphia moderata (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) on Eucalyptus cloeziana and Psidium guajava']java

An egg mass of Dirphia moderata Bouvier was collected around a branch of Eucalyptus cloeziana to register the occurrence and to study the biological aspects of this species fed with leaves of E. cloeziana or P. guajava at 25 +/- 2 degrees C, relative humidity of 60 +/- 10% and photo phase of 12 h. The duration and viability of the larva stage of D. moderata was 56.01 days and 80.00% and 55.79 days and 72.5% for its caterpillars fed with the first and second host plants, respectively. The duration (days) and viability (%) of the pupae stage of this insect were 37.64 and 87.00 fed with E. cloeziana and 49.93 and 87.75 with P. guajava, respectively. The average longevity (days) was 6.79 and 8.85 for males and 10.48 and 10.09 for females with E. cloeziana and P. guajava, respectively. Each female of D. moderata laid 121.71 and 112.00 eggs with an incubation period (days) of 18.14 and 17.79 and viability (%) of 75.0 and 70.0 with the first and the second hosts, respectively.