The influence of female mating status on ovarian development of the ladybird, Propylea dissecta (Mulsant) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), was investigated under laboratory conditions. We assessed the extent to which ovariole development was affected by mating and for that we initially created a base line by observing age specific ovariole development. Results show that the number of follicles in each ovariole increased with the age of both virgin and mated females up to the age of 3 days, thereafter, no increase in number of follicles was recorded. Ovariole width also increased with age in both virgin and mated females up to 4 days, thereafter, no increase in ovariole width was recorded. The ovariole width of mated females was significantly greater than that of virgin females. Egg maturation and the egg load started to increase at the age of 8 days in virgin females. Thereafter, it increased with increase in female age. While in mated females, immature eggs were recorded in their ovarioles from the age of 1 to 2 days. In mated females, however, the increase in the number of mature eggs per ovariole and egg load started when they were 3 days old. Egg load continuously increased with increasing female age., Mhd Shahid, Arshi Siddiqui, Omkar, Geetanjali Mishra., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The Asian ladybird Harmonia axyridis is an invasive insect in Europe and the Americas and is a great threat to the environment in invaded areas. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that non native species are resistant to many groups of parasites that attack native insects. However, very little is known about the complex microbial community associated with this insect. This study based on sequencing 16S rRNA genes in extracted metagenomic DNA is the first research on the bacterial flora associated with H. axyridis. Lady beetles were collected during hibernation from wind turbines in Poland. A mean ± SD of 114 ± 35 species of bacteria were identified. The dominant phyla of bacteria recorded associated with H. axyridis were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Representatives of these phyla are common in the environment, e.g. in the soil, and are often identified as the dominant bacteria associated with arthropods. We also identified animal pathogenic bacteria, such as Burkholderia, Rhodococcus, Chlamydiae and Anaplasmataceae spp. (Neorickettsia helminthoeca and Ehrlichia ovina). We also identified Wolbachia pipientis in a single beetle. This bacterium is a causative agent of reproductive alterations in arthropods. These results support the enemy release hypothesis in the case of this ladybird invasion. Pathogenic bacteria were recorded in only a few samples. Moreover, male-killing bacteria such as Spiroplasma spp., Wolbachia spp. and Rickettsia spp. were only recorded in single insects so they cannot be responsible for the observed alterations in the sex-ratio of the ladybird population studied., Krzysztof Dudek, Kinga Humińska, Jacek Wojciechowicz, Piotr Tryjanowski., and Obsahuje bibliografii
We surveyed ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in 10 stands of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), all monoculture stands 5–100 years old, in western Slovakia, Central Europe, over two successive periods, October 2013 – March 2014 and October 2014 – March 2015. The winter in each period was exceptionally mild. Ladybirds were collected from the lower branches of pine trees using beating trays and were present in 61% of the 1040 samples (one sample containing ladybirds from 20 branches, 1 m long each). In total 3965 individuals of 20 species were recorded. Non-conifer dwelling species associated with broadleaved trees or herbaceous plants prevailed (45% of species), followed by conifer specialists (40%) and generalists (15%). Although 13 species were found at least in one winter month, December, January or February, only four of them, Exochomus quadripustulatus, Coccinella septempunctata, Harmonia axyridis and Hippodamia variegata, were recorded continually during both winters. The number of species, the abundance of all ladybirds and the abundance of dominant species (E. quadripustulatus, C. septempunctata and H. axyridis) decreased from late autumn towards winter and remained lowest during this most adverse time of the year for ladybirds. Overwintering species assemblages of ladybirds changed over time and varied with age of pine stand. Our results suggest that Scots pine in Central Europe supports species rich assemblages of ladybirds from late autumn to early spring and, being widely distributed, it could be suited to winter surveying of ladybirds at large spatial scales to reveal behavioural and ecological responses of species to changing weather or different climates.
This study reports seasonal presence of Coccinella septempunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Southeast Turkey, in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Samples were collected from crops in agricultural areas at altitudes of 10 m, 800 m and 1400 m from stands of wild herbaceous plants , and at 1750 m from stone debris fields. First C. septempunctata adults were collected at the beginning of June at Tentcamp (800 m) and Tozlu (1400 m), early in July at Sarikiz (1700 m) when the mean air temperature reached 30°C. Adults became active in spring, after aestivating around Sarikiz and overwintering there under snow. First adults emerged on 2nd April in 2009 around Edremit Gulf when mean air temperature reached 14.8°C. Adult and immature stages of C. septempunctata were recorded attacking aphid populations till the end of June. C. septempunctata was present there for only one period each year during which they completed one generation. Adult individuals of this generation returned to Mount Ida to aestivate. Maximum numbers of adults present on Mount Ida in the first week of August in 2009 and 2010 were recorded. C. septempunctata adults aestivate and overwinter at Sarikiz on Mount Ida after completing their development on aphids in April, May and June around Edremit Gulf., Ali Özpinar, Ali Kürşat Şahin, Burak Polat., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The ladybird beetle, Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius), has been extending its distribution in and around urban areas at higher latitudes in Japan over the past 100 years. Between 2003 and 2011, we investigated the seasonal occurrence, aphid prey and population dynamics of this species in an urban park in Osaka City, central Japan. We found that C. sexmaculata completes three generations a year in Osaka. Overwintered adults emerge in March or April and produce two (or rarely one) generations by summer. Second-generation adults aestivate and subsequently produce another generation in autumn. This species feeds on five species of aphids that infest planted shrubs and alien weeds throughout the vegetative season. We analyzed the association between accumulated temperature and when overwintered adults first emerged. In addition, we determined the association between their time of emergence, peak abundance and last occurrence, and meteorological conditions. There was no association between the sum of effective temperatures and termination of adult overwintering. There was, however, an association between first occurrence and peak abundance, and climatic conditions, such as warm temperatures or low humidity. This species maintained a stable population in an urban park by becoming quiescent when climatic conditions were unfavourable or prey was scarce. We discussed these findings in relation to urban environmental factors, such as climate, food conditions and vegetation., Yasuko Kawakami, Kazuo Yamazaki, Kazunori Ohashi., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Reflex bleeding is one of the many anti-predation behavioural tactics used by insects. This behaviour is recorded widely in several insect taxa and provides scientists with an interesting opportunity for easily obtaining samples of haemolymph for physiological experiments. However, there is no good evidence that haemolymph and reflex blood have the same characteristics. In this study, we compared three basic characteristics of reflex blood and haemolymph collected from the body cavity, of three species of ladybirds: Harmonia axyridis, Coccinella septempunctata and Ceratomegilla undecimnotata. In the reflex blood we recorded the same concentration of haemocytes and total protein, and level of antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli as in samples of haemolymph collected from within the body cavity. Therefore, reflex blood is a promising source of haemolymph for use in many physiological and immunological studies. It is the best way of collecting haemolymph if one wants to avoid challenging the immune system and concurrently also enables one to repeatedly collect haemolymph from one individual without injuring it, which would initiate repair mechanisms. The interspecific comparison indicates significant differences among the species studied in three characteristics measured. Interestingly, the native species Ceratomegilla undecimnotata has nearly as effective immune system as the invasive Harmonia axyridis based on the level of antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli.
Interactions involving host plants (cowpea, groundnut, cotton, sunflower, greengram, blackgram) an insect herbivore, black legume aphid Aphis craccivora Koch (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and a predator, the zigzag beetle Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were investigated during 2014-2015. The preference of the aphid A. craccivora for host plants measured in terms of growth and multiplication was cowpea > groundnut > greengram > blackgram > sunflower > cotton (most preferred to least preferred). Cowpea was the most preferred host plant for growth and multiplication of A. craccivora. Aphid's oviposition period was longest, fecundity greatest; adult longevity longest (188.40 ± 28.87 h; 52.00 ± 10.92; 231.60 ± 40.41 h), and nymphal mortality was lowest (0%) when reared on cowpea followed by groundnut, greengram and blackgram. Aphids had highest nymphal mortality (100%), with very few or no live adults produced, when reared on sunflower and cotton, the least preferred host of A. craccivora in this study. At the third trophic level, both the larvae and the adults of the coccinellid, Cheilomenes sexmaculata, consumed more of the aphids reared on groundnut than of those reared on blackgram, greengram, cowpea, sunflower and cotton. The biochemical constituents (phenols) present in cotton and sunflower, which contributed to the aphid's nymphal mortality, also affected the feeding behaviour of the coccinellid., Snehasish Routray, Karnam V. Hari Prasad., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Ovipositing females from invasive (Krasnodar Territory of Russia) and native (Far East of Russia) populations of Harmonia axyridis were fed one of a set of diets ranging from 50 Myzus persicae aphids every day to 1 aphid every 10 days and all were also provided with a 10% sugar solution. The experiment was conducted at 20°C under short (12 h) and long (18 h) day conditions. Most of the females from the native population that consumed 50 or 10 aphids per day continued to oviposit under both long and short day conditions. Females that consumed 1 aphid per day or every 2 days practically stopped laying eggs but under long day conditions their ovaries were still active, whereas under short day conditions ca 50% of them were reproductively inactive (only germaria present) and had a well-developed fat body. Further reduction in diet resulted in an increase in the proportion of reproductively inactive females. However, about half of the females that terminated oogenesis under long day conditions had poorly developed fat bodies, which indicates that diapause was not induced. For the females from the invasive population, both photoperiodic and trophic effects were weak: under short day conditions, some females entered diapause when prey was abundant, whereas about 50% (independent of photoperiod) did not enter diapause when starved. This risk-spreading strategy, possibly, facilitates the adaptation of this invasive ladybird to unpredictable environmental conditions., Antonina A. Ovchinnikova, Andrey N. Ovchinnikov, Margarita Yu. Dolgovskaya, Sergey Ya. Reznik, Natalia A. Belyakova., and Obsahuje bibliografii