Growth and bioenergetics of the moth Cyclophragma leucosticta Grünberg

The growth and utilization of energy by larval Cyclophragma leucosticta fed on Eucalyptus alba were investigated in the laboratory. Male and female larvae grew at the same rate but females grew to approximately twice the size of males. Growth in length was exponential but growth in weight with age and length was described by a power function with the growth coefficient not differing significantly from the expected value of 3.0. Ingestion (I), egestion (E) and production (P) were measured. Based on energy equivalents, gross efficiency of growth (P/I) and assimilation efficiency (A/I) were 0.17 and 0.38 respectively and were about average for Lepidoptera. Net efficiency of growth (P/A) was 0.43, a rather low value for a lepidopteran. The partitioning of energy throughout the life cycle is tabulated. Exuviae and cocoon formation together utilized 31% of total production in males and 16% in females. 22% of female production was converted to ova.