Laboratory Colonization of a Noctuid Moth12

Abstract

During the process of adapting to a new rearing regime, laboratory and wild-type strains of the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hübner), had similar survival and developmental rates but differed in reproductivity. A higher proportion of laboratory females mated, mated more frequently, and produced a greater average number of viable eggs. Successive generations of both strains had a parabolic curve of adult yields characterized by initial decline and subsequent recovery phases. Adaptation occurred by the F5 laboratory and F7 wild generations.