Larvae of Parantica sita were reared with 5 mixtures of a ready-made diet material, Insecta F-II (Nihon-Nosan-Kogyo Co.), and 10 or 30% dried leaf powder from three host plants, Cynanchum caudatum, Metaplexis japonica, and Marsdenia tomentosa (Asclepiadaceae). The larval mortalities were high in the diets with 10% leaf powder of C. caudatum and M. japonica, and 25% of the butterflies were abnormal in the diets with 30% leaf powder of C. caudatum. By contrast, the rates of adult emergence were high (100 and 97%) and most adults were healthy looking in the diets with 30% leaf powder of M. japonica and M. tomentosa. Since M. japonica is common in Japan, an artificial diet made from M. japonica seems to be the most convenient for the mass rearing of P. sita.
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