Effect of body size on fecunduty and longovity of the mugwort leaf beetle: Chrysolina aurichalcea mannerheim (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Abstract

Adult leaf beetle, Chrysolina aurichalce, were collected from the field were monitored for oviposition and mortality to determine if correlations existed between adult parameters and fecundity or longevity. Adult size was not a good indicator of fecundity, total oviposition events and number of eggs laid per day. Adult size of females showed very low correlation with the average number of eggî Î lid per day. However male adult size was a marginal indicator of the number of eggs laid pvv day. Longevity could be a more important factor affecting fecundity for adult females of C. aurichalcea rather than adult size.