Volume 66, Issue 3, 2022 Journal of Scientific Research of The Banaras Hindu University 157 DOI: 10.37398/JSR.2022.660319 Abstract: The present paper provides information on life cycle of polyphagous moth Eterusia aedea Linn. (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae). It breeds in rainy season and two generations are possible in a year from this region. About 42 to 54 are required days for completion of life cycle. Careya arborea Roxb. (Lecythidaceae) and Sapium insigne (Royle) Benth. (Euphorbiaceae) were recorded as new larval food plants of E. aedea Linn. from Amba Reserve Forest, Kolhapur, North Western Ghats, Maharashtra. Index Terms: Larva, Polyphagous, Western Ghats, India, Lepidoptera, Life cycle, Zygaenidae I. INTRODUCTION Plants and insects have specific associations with each other, plants are producers and insects are primary consumers. The entomofaunal studies in the tropical forests showed that they are exhibit high species diversity (Barbosa & Schultz, 1987; Mittermeier et al., 1998; Grimaldi and Engel, 2005; Nair, 2007; Kier et al., 2005; Brooks et al., 2006; Singh et al, 2019). Among all insect species, phytophagous insects as herbivores shows different levels of morphological diversity, seasonal oscillation in populations, percent of folivory and polyphagy according to the type of vegetation, availability of food plants and surrounding climatic conditions. Earlier investigations on the entomofauna of tropical forest reveals that all insect orders are present in the tropical forest ecosystem except Grylloblatoidea and Mantophasmatodea. However, some insect orders are dominant, that is more abundant and economically important because of their negative impact on trees. The widespread and highly diverse orders are Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, Isoptera and Orthoptera (Nair, 2007). To find out the insect herbivore complex from the forests of Kolhapur district, an extensive study has been carried out from 2010 to 2012. The study revealed 106 insect herbivores associated with 53 forest plants. Among the 106 species of insect herbivores, Order Lepidoptera represents 32 species belonging 11 different families. Among these, Zygaenidae is one of them. In the study of Lepidopterous pests of economically important forest plants from Amba reserve forest, 32 species of moths were recorded on different forest plants which are distributed within 11 families of Order Lepidoptera. Among these, the caterpillars of Eterusia aedea Linn. were recorded. The moths of family Zygaenidae are commonly called as burnet moths (Barlow, 1982), smoky moths (Evans, 2007), or foresters (Zborowski and Edwards, 2007). The moths of this family are distributed worldwide with 1200 species. During the present study, only E. aedea Linn. from Zygaenidae was recorded from the Amba Reserve Forest of Kolhapur District. The larvae of E. aedea Linn. feed on foliage of Careya arborea Roxb. (Lecythidaceae) and Sapium insigne (Royle) Benth. (Euphorbiaceae). II. MATERIAL AND METHODS The life cycle of E. aedia Linn. was studied during rainy season in 2010 and 2012 under field and laboratory conditions. The immature stages were collected from study area. Collected larvae were reared in glass jars (20 x 20 x 17 ½ cm) by providing fresh C. arborea Roxb. leaves daily. Male and female adults obtained were released in cages for egg laying. After egg laying, eggs were transferred to petri dishes containing fresh tender C. arborea Roxb. leaves at room temperature. A moistened filter paper (Whatman No. 3) was kept in each petri dish to prevent drying of leaves. The caterpillars were maintained in petri dishes up to second Life Cycle of Eterusia aedea Linn. (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae) on new host plant from Amba Reserve Forest, Kolhapur, North Western Ghats, Maharashtra Amol B. Mamlayya* 1 , Sagar A. Vhanalakar* 2 and Vikram R. Kakulte 3 *1 Department of Zoology, Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil Mahavidyalya, Pandharpur, Dist – Solapur, M.S., India. abmamale@gmail.com *2 Department of Zoology, Karmaveer Hire Arts, Science, Commerce and Education College, Gargoti, Dist - Kolhapur, M.S., India. sagarayan36@gmail.com Department of Zoology, KTHM College, Nahsik, MS, India kakultevr@gmail.com