Molecular Characterization and Management of Shoot and Fruit Borer Conogethes ... 213
Ghats in South India. Two peaks in the popula-
tion were noticed in a year, i.e., one during April–
May and the other during November–December
(Thyagaraj 2003 ). The population coincided
with the period of less or no rainfall, i.e., during
premonsoon and postmonsoon periods (Ballard
1927 ; Ono 1937 ; Thyagaraj 2003 ). Temperature
and rainfall influences greatly the growth and
development of life stages (Moralesranous and
Cote 1992 ; Rao 1992 ; Shanuowr et al. 1993 ).
The overwintering of the needle feeding type/
Pinaceae feeding type (PFT) of the yellow peach
moth, C. punctiferalis were studied in China and
Korea under laboratory and field conditions. Au-
thors observed that third or fourth instar larvae
rolled the needles in twigs into a bag with silk,
in which they overwintered (Kang et al. 2004 ;
Kuang et al. 2009 ).
Feeding Behavior
Larvae of C. punctiferalis exhibit diverse feed-
ing habit; feeding on underground rhizome/root
to cones/needles in pine to fruiting bodies from
ground to fruit trees. On cardamom, moths lay
eggs singly on the top of the leaf axis of young
pseudostems; rarely two larvae are found in a
pseudostem. This kind of egg laying habit prob-
ably is to avoid larval competition for food with-
in the same pseudostem (Thyagaraj 2003 ). The
young caterpillar bores at the base of the pedi-
cel and later at the base (0.3 m above ground
level) of the seedlings in the nursery and at the
nodal region of the grown-up suckers, feeding
the central tissue, and tunneled the shoot caus-
ing a dead heart. The live caterpillar indicates
its presence by faecal matter (excreta) from the
entry hole (Anonymous 1913a; Kalshoven 1922 ;
Clausen 1927 ; Anonymous 1944 ; Thyagaraj
2003 ). Larvae feed on capsules from July to
November (Anonymous 1918 ; Thyagaraj 2003 ).
Second instar larvae bored into the capsule, fed
on the immature seeds leaving empty capsule and
then moved to another capsule or psuedostem to
soil for pupation (Kalshoven 1929 ; Smith 1937 ;
Sloan 1945 ; Sen Gupta and Behera 1955 ; Iron-
side and Davis 1969 ; Ram et al. 1997 ; Wang and
Cai 1997 ; Ni 1998 ). Occasionally larvae bored
into panicles also. Such panicles dry up without
bearing capsules. Feeding preference test showed
that among the cardamom plant parts, tender
shoots were preferred the most, following young
capsules (Autson 1923 ; Thyagaraj 2003 ).
Attempts have been made to mass rear Cono-
gethes on artificial diet. Most insect studies deal
with laboratory-reared insects, often on artificial
diets. In fact, the rearing conditions and the diet
composition are critical parameters for insect
quality and yield. So far, artificial diet has been
developed and proposed for the maintenance and
continuous rearing of C. punctiferalis FFT using
“soybean meal powder” and corn seeds (Honda
et al. 1979 ; Utsume et al. 1990 ). Although there
has been some success in efforts to rear succes-
sive generations by these diets, still there are
lacunae.Crop Loss
The shoot damage in cardamom due to borer
Conogethes infestation varied from 5 to 10 %. In
terms of capsule yield loss (dry weight basis), it
varied from 6.79 to 9.18 %. Therefore, combin-
ing together, the loss was estimated to be more
than 20 % every year (Kapadia 1996 ;Thyagaraj
2003 ). However, the crop loss due to this pest
was worked out in cardamom and economic
threshold level was fixed at 10 % (Anonymous
1954 ; Krishnamurthy et al. 1989 ; Ram et al.
1997 ). Studies on castor in Salem, Tamil Nadu,
South India recorded 10.80–26.70 % capsule
damage (Suganthy 2011 ). Kapadia ( 1996 ) esti-
mated 42.30 % crop loss in castor in Indis. Fifty
percent yield reduction was recorded on grapes
due to C. punctiferalis attack (Ram et al. 1997 ).Mitochondrial DNA Barcoding
The protein coding genes are the most frequent-
ly sequenced mitochondrial genes for evolution-
ary studies and phylogenetic analysis. Shashank
( 2012 ) did molecular characterization in Cono-
gethes. Six legs of moths were taken in a 1.5 ml