Table Of ContentTThhee LLeepipdiopdteorpoltoegircaollSoocgieitycal Society ooff JJaapapnan
gee8ma 71"ans.Iepid.Soc,,lapan61 (2):173-17S, July201e
If they haye no leaves ,let them eat bread2 -A remarkable food habit in the
cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera (HUbner ()Lepidopte Nroac,tuidae)
Kazuo YAMAzAKi', Koh-ichi TAKAKuRA and Chobei IMAi"
Osaka City Institu otte' Pub]i cHealth and Environrnent Saclienees 8,-34 Tb.jo-ch Toe,nnoji-k uO,saka,
543-O026Iapan
Abstract A late-ins tlaarrs ･ef' athe cotton bollwonn Helieoverp aaJvetigesu (HUbne rw)as fbund focd-
ing on bread in a residential home in Osaka. The larva may have inadvertent[ yinvaded thc house, or
earlier the grocery store or bakcry, to ultirnately feed en the bread. The larva was subsequently rcared
on the bread in the laberatur b}u,t, i tdied befor epupation T.his occurrence represents a rare case of
thc in festatio nof a processed ecreal fOod by a maerolepidopLeran caterpMar and the second rcport of
bread-feedi nign the cotton bollworm .Helicoverp aarmigeNt caterpillars typicall yfeed on leavcs and
flowering plant parts ,including seeds, and prey on caterpi]1ars. The wide host range and the tcndeney
to feed on proteinous materials ef H. armigeiu may explain this bizarr feCedin gbehavior,
Key words feedin ghabit ,Helicoverpa arniigera, Heliothinae ,polyphugous cuterpillar, processed
food.
ccrcal
A fraction lepidoptcran infest foods.Thesc
small of species stored cereals and processed cereal
gpecies are dominated by several membcrs of the microlcpidoptera, such ag Pyralida eT,ineidae,
Oecophoridae ,and Gelechiida e(Robins o2n0,05; Japanese Societ yof Applied Entomology
and Zoology, 2006). These specics are never found feeding on leave sin the fiel dI.n fact ,the
naturat habitat sof stored-product pests generall yinclude sheltered sites where seeds and
nesting material s have been gathered by rodents, birds o,r other insect s(Plar arnde Burkholder,
2009), although many brucid beetl epests attack seeds on outdoor plants .We had an opportu-
nity to inspec ta noctuid caterpMar, whose normal diet include slivin gplan ttissue ssuch as
fresh leaves t,hat was found fCedin gon bread indoors H.ere, we describ ethe observed behav-
ior forjts
and potential reasons occurrence.
In lat eMay 2005, a late-inst naorctuid caterpillar (ncar 3l0y mm in length )was found teeding
on bread in a residential home in Osaka, The bread had been purchased in a grocery store a
few days prior in Osaka, We were asked to identif tyhe larv aon 3l May 2005, The senior
author identifi tehde larv aas the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa annzigera (Htibn e(rL)epidoptera,
Noctuidae), based on Yamamoto (1987 )and YOshimatsu (2001) T.he larv awas subsequently
reared on Lhe bread in a 500-mL plasti ccontainer in the laborator >TJh,e larv acontinued feed-
ing on the bread and excreted several, light-brew n'feca lpellcts for a week. However, the
Iarva unfbrtunately died without pupating due to mal functio nduring ecdysis.
Heiicoveiz paarmigera is a well-known agricultural pest worldwide; it infest svarious crop
plants such as cotton, maize, sunfiewer, and soybean (Yamamoto ,1987; Zhang, 1994; Robinson
et al., 20e1; Japanese Societ yofApplied Entomology and Zoology, 2006) .Therefore ,this
findin grepresents a rarc case of the infestatio nof processed cereal fbod by a macrolepidop-
tcran caterpillar that usually fecds on fresh leaves [,Ib eur knowledge, only one record exists
*Corrcspondingauthor:[email protected]
"Present address: Senri Kinran Universit 5y-,25-1 Fujishiro-dai S,uita, Osaka, 565-0873 Japan
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TThhee LLeepipdiopdteorpoltoegircaollSoocgieitycal Society ooff JJaapapnan
'F,xKAKuR,x
174 Kazuo YAMAzAKi, Koh-iehi and Chebei IMAi
of bread-eatin ign H. aFnzigeva larva .Hashimoto (1995 r)eported that a late-inst Iaarrv awas
found leeding on Frcnch bread in Osaka and that the larv asuccessfuily grew into an adult
whiIe feeding on the bread ,However, the eclosed adult was smaller than field-caugh tspecimens
(Hashimo t1o9,95) .The rearing record of Hashimoto (1995 )and the presen treport point to
the inadcquacy of bread constituents fbr H. armigeiu larvae.
Casimero et al, (2000 e)xamined the suitability o'f various crop lcave sand the artificial diet
Insect aLF (Nihon-Nos Kaongyo Co.) for Hl anniig. era larvae .They documented tha tInsecta
LF is the best food for 1arva lsurvival and weight gain .Insect aLF contains watcr (72-7691)),
protei n(26.0%) ,fibe r(g4.0%) f.at (2 I .O%/), and vitamins and minerals (Nosa Cnorporation,
2006). Bread contains a hi.a hproportion of carbohydrates (45-57% a)nd protei n(8-109 eb)ut
less water (30-38% a)nd vitamins and minerals compared to vcgetable leaves and Insect aLF
(Yamaguchi 2,001). Judging from the period (possib l2-y3 days) between bread production
and the discover yof the larva ,the larva had conceivably grown to a lat einsta rwhilc feeding
on more suitable fOod sources than brcad, inadyertent]y invaded the house, grocery gtore, or
bakery, and wus then found feeding on the bread in the absence of leaves.
Although ". anTiig. eredarvae feed mainly on leaves of various p]ant species, they occasion-
ally eat unusua] materials. Hayashi (2000 )reported that 1arva eprcyed upon conspecific larvae
and the larva eof J]tipi tmiacohaon L. (Lepidopt ePrapai,lionida ean)d Pieri sbrassica e(L.)
(Lepidopte rPai,eridae d)uring a dry autumn in France ,In addition, whcn she provided bcef
and lamb to the larvae t,hey also consumed these materials (Hayash i20,00). In general m,em-
bers o'f the sub'family Heliothinae, including H. armigera, preferentia lfleyed on proteinous
t]ood sources, such as flower sand fruit si,n addition to leaves ,and they sornetimes prey on
olher caterpi]lars (Hardwick 1,96S; Boyd et al., 2008). Although bread may not be an optimal
food for U armigeTzi larxrae i,t contains more protein than fres hleaves (Yamaguch 2i0,01).
Thus, the polyphagous habit and preferenc efbr proteinou sfoods in H arin ig e'ra may cxplain
thisbread-feedinbgehavior,
Acknowledgments
We th ank Dr, Shin-ich Yibshimatsu of the National Institu tfeor Agro-Environmenta lSciences
for providin ga reference on the food records ef H, armigeJa.
References
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NoctuLdae: Heliothinac) .J. Insect Behav, 21: 143-t46.
Casimero, V., R, Tsukada, F. Nakasoj iand K. Fujisaki ,2000. EIrect of iarva ldiets on the survival and deve]op-
ment of larvac in thc cotton bollworm, "elicoveTpa armigeTa HUbner CLepidopter Nao:ctuidae). Appl, Ent.
Zool. 35: 69-74.
Hardwick, D. E, 1965. The corn earworm complex. Mem. ffnt .Soc. Can. 40/ 1-247.
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Ha},ashi ,E., 2000. BizaiT eHeticoverp aarmigera larvae that preyed on no[ only 1urvae of other spceics but also
on beef. Scias 5 (12) 5:4-55. (l nJapanese)
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摘 要
一 ． 一 一． ・ 一 ・
葉が なければパ ン を食べ る？ オオ タバ コ ガ幼虫の 奇妙な食性 （山崎 夫 高倉耕 今井
長兵衛）
オオタバ コ ガの幼虫が大阪市の 家屋内でパ ン を摂食して い る ところを見出され た．この 幼虫は偶然に
人家，食料品店、あるい はパ ン製造所の い ずれかに侵入 し，パ ン を見つ けて摂食にい たっ たもの と考え
られる．この幼虫はその ままパ ンを食餌にして飼育したが，蛹化せずに死亡した．本報告は大蛾類が加
工穀物食品を加害 した稀な報告例で あ り，本種の パ ン食の記録 としては2例 目である．本種は葉以外
に花や果実などを好んで摂食する習性があ り，鱗翅 目幼虫を捕食する こ とも知られて い る．本種にお
い て稀にパ ン 食が 見出されるの は，多食性とタンパ ク質を多く含む食物を選好する習性が原囚なの か
もしれない ．
（Rcceived March I，2010． Accepted March 25 2010）
，
Publishe dby the Lepidopterologica lSeciety of JaP ，
5−20，Motoyokoyama 2， Hachiqii， Tokyo ，192−0063 J乱pan
一
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