Temperature-dependent development of Lista haraldusalis (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) on Platycarya strobilacea Jian-Feng Liu a , Man Liu a,b , Mao-Fa Yang a, ⁎, Dimitris C. Kontodimas c , Xiao-Fei Yu a , Qi-Xian Lian a,d a Institute of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guizhou 550025, China b Guizhou Biological Institute, Guizhou 550009, China c Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Benaki Phytopathological Institute, 8 St. Delta Street, 145 61 Kifissia, Greece d Department of Chemical Biology, Xingyi Normal University for Nationalities, Xingyi, Guizhou 562400, China abstract article info Article history: Received 24 April 2014 Revised 15 July 2014 Accepted 26 July 2014 Available online 1 August 2014 Keywords: Developmental time Insect tea Lista haraldusalis Model Temperature The effect of constant temperatures on development and survival of Lista haraldusalis (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), a newly reported insect species used to produce insect tea in Guizhou province (China), was studied in laboratory conditions at seven temperatures (19 °C, 22 °C, 25 °C, 28 °C, 31 °C, 34 °C, and 37 °C) on Platycarya strobilacea. Increasing the temperature from 19 °C to 31 °C led to a significant decrease in the developmental time from egg to adult emergence, and then the total developmental time increased at 34 °C. Egg incubation was the stage where L. haraldusalis experienced the highest mortality at all temperatures. The survival of L. haraldusalis was significantly higher at 25 °C and 28 °C, whereas none of the eggs hatched at 37 °C. Common and Ikemoto linear models were used to describe the relationship between the temperature and the develop- mental rate for each immature stage of L. haraldusalis. The estimated values of the lower temperature threshold and thermal constant of the total immature stages using Common and Ikemoto linear models were 11.34 °C and 11.20 °C, and 939.85 and 950.41 degree-days, respectively. Seven nonlinear models were used to fit the experi- mental data to estimate the developmental rate of L. haraldusalis. Based on the biological significance for model evaluation, Ikemoto linear, Logan-6, and SSI were the best models that fitted each immature stage of L. haraldusalis and they were used to estimate the temperature thresholds. These thermal requirements and tem- perature thresholds are crucial for facilitating the development of factory-based mass rearing of L. haraldusalis. © 2014 Korean Society of Applied Entomology, Taiwan Entomological Society and Malaysian Plant Protection Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Introduction Lista haraldusalis (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is a newly reported insect species that is used to produce insect tea in China. L. haraldusalis larvae are fed mainly on the dried leaves of Platycarya strobilacea. Insect tea is a unique forestry resource produced from in- sects in China, which is made from the frass of certain insects that are fed on particular plants (You and Zhao, 1979; Hu, 1996; Xu et al., 2013), and its production is distributed widely in the border areas of Hunan province, Guangxi province, Guizhou province, and Guangdong province, as well as in Sichuan province upstream of the Yangtze River (Hu, 1996). Insect tea is also a traditional drink of local ethnic minorities. As early as the Ming Dynasty, insect tea was recorded in the “Compen- dium of Materia Medica” (Li, 1982). Insect tea is highly nutritious and health-enhancing, and it has become extremely popular among overseas Chinese, especially in Southeast Asian countries (Hu, 1996). Insects are poikilothermic animals and environmental variables in which ambient temperature are major abiotic factors that affect the dis- tribution, survival, reproduction, abundance, fitness, movement, and population dynamics of insects, mites, and their natural enemies (Cossins and Bowler, 1987; Hallman and Denlinger, 1998; Roy et al., 2002). Temperature also affects the metabolism directly and it has marked effects on the population growth rate of insects and mites (Hagstrum et al., 1995; Davidowitz and Nijhout, 2004). It is essential to understand the phenology of an insect species at different tempera- tures to predict its seasonal occurrence of insect tea-producing species (Wen, 1997; Shang et al., 2011, 2012, 2013). Recently, some insect tea-producing species, such as Aglossa dimidiata (Wen, 1997; Shang et al., 2012) and Pyralis farinalis (Shang et al., 2013), have been the sub- ject of much research, particularly into the effects of temperature on the preadult development and survival of A. dimidiata on Malus sieboldii (Wen, 1997) and on Litsea coreana (Shang et al., 2012), as well as the preadult development of P. farinalis on L. coreana (Shang et al., 2013). However, there have been no experimental analyses of the effect of temperature on the development and survival of L. haraldusalis on P. strobilacea. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology 17 (2014) 803–810 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.:+86 851 3851274; fax: +86 851 3855894. E-mail address: gdgdly@126.com (M.F. Yang). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aspen.2014.07.012 1226-8615/© 2014 Korean Society of Applied Entomology, Taiwan Entomological Society and Malaysian Plant Protection Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 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