Immature Development of Spodoptera dolichos (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

We provide detailed temporal and morphological parameters of the immature stages of Spodoptera dolichos (Fabricius) larvae fed on artificial diet under controlled conditions (25 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 10% RH, and 14 h photophase). The viability of the egg, larval, pupal, and prepupal stages was 97.5%, 97.0%, 93.1%, and 98.9%, respectively. The average duration of the egg, larval, prepupal, and pupal stages was 5.0, 23.4, 3.2, and 21.5 days, respectively. Females took longer at the larval stage than males, with 10.5% of them having seven instars. The growth rate of female larvae that developed through six and seven instars was 1.72 and 1.54, respectively. Female pupae were significantly larger, exhibiting slower development than males.