A NEW REARING METHOD FOR TIPULA-PALUDOSA AND TIPULA-OLERACEA (DIPT., TIPULIDAE) AND SOME RECORDS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LABORATORY POPULATION

The previously complicated and labour-intensive rearing of Tipula spp. has been considerably simplified. The imagines of both sexes are kept in a cage for egg-laying. The food used is a solution of cane sugar, which attracts at the same time the females: In the direct neighbourho od of the food source, petri dishes are placed, which are filled with moist, marshy soil. The females lay their eggs there. The neonate larv ae remain in those dishes, which are then covered. The larvae are fed with fresh plant material, and, later on (mostly in the second instar) are moved into larger dishes. After the third instar the larvae becom e negative phototactic and live in the ground. Therefore they can be k ept in open boxes in a large cage. These rearing boxes are filled with soil, into which two stripes of grass has been sown. The bare soil be tween the stripes is covered with various plant material. Pupation and emergence of the adults takes place also in those boxes. During these studies the food preferences of the laboratory strains have been dete rmined, and some details of the Tiptula-development recorded.