[HELICONIUS] Artificial Diet for Heliconius

[Lawrence Gilbert]

Chris:

  I am between grants and don't have the funds to help.  While I am  
able to use host plants here, an artificial diet would come in very  
handy for controlled chemical ecological studies of larval diet.    I  
suspect that artificial diet will require incorporation dry powdered  
leaves of specific host plants to encourage larvae to feed.  That is  
where I could help out down the road as folks work on more specialized  
species.  I would be happy to work with Chip if he wants incorporate  
leaves of specific Passiflora sp. in testing his diet.   One challenge  
will be to get oviposition.  I suspect that for many species host  
plant will be required to obtain eggs and then eggs can be moved to  
artificial diet.  Unlike the monarch situation what we're talking  
about here is a family of similar artificial diets to cover all the  
species of interest.

All the best

Larry



On Apr 19, 2012, at 12:01 PM, Chris Jiggins wrote:

> Dear all
>
> We have just been in conversation with Chip Taylor at Kansas State  
> University, regarding the possibility of developing an artificial  
> diet for Heliconius.  After talking about the success of his rearing  
> protocol for monarchs, I am convinced that this has the potential to  
> represent a major change in what we can do with Heliconius as a  
> genetic and developmental system.  He has offered to work on  
> developing a similar diet for Heliconiines - either with H.  
> charithonia or Agraulis, and estimates that this might take 5-6  
> months.  In order to do this he is asking for some financial support  
> to cover student stipends and consumables.  This would be initially  
> $5000 USD, although the ultimate cost depends somewhat on how  
> successful the initial experiments are.
>
> I intend to contribute some funds to try and make this happen, but  
> since this has the potential to benefit all of us I wonder if any  
> other members of the community are interested to also contribute.   
> If it were shared across 4-5 labs the cost would really be minimal.
>
> Let me know if you are interested
>
> Cheers
> Chris
>
> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
> Chris Jiggins
> Reader in Evolution and Biological Diversity
> Department of Zoology
> University of Cambridge
> Tel: (+44)(0)1223 769021
> http://www.heliconius.org/
> http://heliconius.zoo.cam.ac.uk/
>
> Fellow of St John's College,
> Cambridge, UK. CB2 1TP
> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>
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