Feeding behaviour of Eocanthecona furcellata (Wolff) on two lepidopteran caterpillars

The adults of E. furcellata were collected from field and maintained alive in the laboratory at ambient conditions of temperature and relative humidity on the III instar larvae of the caterpillars for a period of ten days. Fifty caterpillars of either prey Bihar hairy caterpillar and tobacco caterpillar were provided as food. Over the ten-day period, the daily mean consumption on Bihar hairy caterpillar was 17.37 and tobacco caterpillar was 30.67, respectively. The percentage feeding on Bihar caterpillar ranged from 3.33 to 63.33 with an average of 34.73; while on tobacco caterpillar ranged from 46.00 to 93.33 with an average of 61.33. The spiny predatory bug significantly preferred and consumed more tobacco caterpillars per day than Bihar caterpillar.