• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 2013

Baculum elongatum has several peculiarities such as parthenogenesis, unique external features, changing body color, and dropping oviposition, which makes it a potential economically useful insect. Oviposition was performed by females without fertilization by the sperm of males. The oviposition period was $42.2{\pm}22.7$ days and the number of eggs per female was $109.5{\pm}70.5$ eggs. The hatch rate was 73.3% at $25^{\circ}C$ and 66.7% after low temperature treatment ($8^{\circ}C$ for 60 days). In nature, B. elongatum overwinters as an egg, but it can be assumed from the results that cold temperatures were not required for hatching. The hatch rate was 98.2% in the treatment using floral foam, fermented sawdust, and leaves. The developmental period was $100.9{\pm}4.2$ days for eggs, $55.3{\pm}4.6$ days for nymphs, and $49.7{\pm}16.0$ days for adults. The length of the eggs was $0.33{\pm}0.0$ cm and the lengths of the nymphs were clearly distinguishable according to the instar stage. Clover(Trifolium repens) was an excellent diet as it was similar to the host plant and could be used as an alternative diet. The rate of reaching adulthood for the insects was 66.7% on an artificial diet containing 25% acacia leaves. For sustainable mass rearing of nymphs or adults of B. elongatum, a natural diet could be used such as acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), white oak (Quercus aliena), chestnut (Castanea crenata var. dulcis), and bush clover (Lespedeza bicolor), or an alternative diet such as clover or artificial diet.