Selection of an Artificial Diet for Laboratory Rearing of Opogona sacchari (Lepidoptera: Tineidae) (Bojer, 1856).

The banana moth Opogona sacchari (Bojer) (Lepidoptera: Tineidae) is a polyphagous pest that can cause serious damage, in particular to banana crops in southern Brazil. The insect is a quarantine pest in several countries, including Argentina, the main consumer market for bananas from southern Brazil. Little information is available about the biology and ecology of this moth, such as a suitable diet for laboratory rearing. In order to provide support for integrated pest management of the pest, this study furnished data for selecting two diets suitable for continuous laboratory rearing of O. sacchari, one based on dried beans, wheat germ, soy bran, brewer's yeast, and casein and another diet with wheat germ and casein as protein sources. With both diets, the viability of the egg-adult period exceeded 68%, with fertility over 338 eggs per female. A corrected biotic potential analysis gave similar values for the two diets.