Hellula undalis Fabricius (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae) |
| Order: Lepidoptera Family: Nolidae |
| Common name : Cabbage web worm |
Hellula undalis, the cabbage borer is widely distributed.
The female lays its eggs on the under surface of the leaves.
The larvae from these eggs hatch in about 4 days time.
The larva first mines the leaf, then feeds on the leaves sheltered within silken passages and finally bores
into cabbage head or cauliflower stem. After 9 days of feeding, the larva pupates in the cocoon.
The adults from the pupae emerge in 6 days.
The damage caused is very serious, the attacked plant never recouped due to boring habit of the larva. |
| Production procedure |
For rearing of host specific parasitoids, rearing Hellula undalis is important and an artificial diet
has been developed for successful rearing of H. undalis. The composition of the diet is as follow |
| Water | 80 ml |
| KOH (22.5%) | 1.8 ml |
| Casein | 12.6 gms |
| Wesson’s salt mixture | 3.6 gms |
| Sucrose | 12.6 gms |
| Formaldehyde 10% | 1.3 ml |
| 15% methyl parahydroxy benzoate in 95% alcohol | 3.6 ml |
| Choline chloride | 3.6 ml |
| Wheat germ | 10.8 gms |
| Cellulose powder | 1.8 gms |
| Vitamins (Multivitaplex forte) | 0.5 gm |
| Agar dissolved in 220 ml of boiling water | 9.0 gms |
| Ascorbic acid | 1.4 gms |
| Tetracycline | 100 gms |
| Sorbic acid | 0.5 gms |
| Lineseed oil | 2.0 gms |
| Dried cabbage leaf power | 5.0 gms (in 50 ml of water at 50°C) |
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| At 25-27°C and 65% RH the larval period is completed in 17-33 days and pupal period 6-16 days. |
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