Conserving one of the important species of oak tasar silk worm Antheraea proylei (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) in western Himalyan region of Uttarakhand, India to sustain the livelihood of local population

Abstract

The present study was conducted to record the complete life cycle of oak tasar silk worm Anthraea proylei in the western Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, India. During this study the duration of larval instar stages were 4.80\u2009±\u20090.41, 4.00\u2009±\u20090, 4.80\u2009±\u20090.41, 8.00\u2009±\u20090 and 11.66\u2009±\u20090.72 days for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th larval instars, respectively. The shortest duration of the larval stage was recorded for the 2nd instar (4.00\u2009±\u200900 days), while, longest duration of the larval stage was recorded for 5th instar (11.66\u2009±\u20090.72 days). All the larval stages were completed within 42\u2009±\u200910 days. After hatching, the larvae developed, which were elongated about 4.17\u2009±\u20090.36\xa0mm long. The larvae covered with many brownish-black hairs and start feeding at the given food plant. After feeding the total weight was recorded 0.07\u2009±\u20090.006, 0.26\u2009±\u20090.02, 1.27\u2009±\u20090.17, 4.65\u2009±\u20090.86, 13.72\u2009±\u20091.10 for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th larval instars respectively. The total length of all instars was 1.02\u2009±\u20090.03, 2.39\u2009±\u20090.43, 6.12\u2009±\u20090.12, 7.44\u2009±\u20090.43, 10.25\u2009±\u20090.17 for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th larval instars respectively. Larvae were reddish-brown in color. The weight and length of female pupae were 8.75\u2009±\u20090.15\xa0gm and 4.31\u2009±\u20090.12\xa0cm, respectively. The weight and length of male pupae were 6.41\u2009±\u20090.08\xa0gm and 4.42\u2009±\u20090.22\xa0cm, respectively. The weight of adult male and the female moth was reported as 4.02\u2009±\u20090.13 and 1.89\u2009±\u20090.07\xa0gm.