Searching and reproductive behaviour of female aphidophagous ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae): a review

By E. Evans. 2003

145 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In searching both for food to produce eggs and for suitable oviposition sites, females of aphidophagous ladybirds must be adapted to exploit prey that vary greatly in their occurrence and abundance over both space and time. A simple model of ladybird searching and oviposition behaviour emerged in the 1950s: adult ladybirds are highly mobile in traversing the landscape, but become less active and produce more eggs as their rate of aphid consumption increases. The net result is that most eggs tend to be laid at sites of high aphid density. Laboratory and field experiments and observations over the past several decades have generally supported this basic model, although the linkage between ladybird dispersal activity and local aphid density often appears to be relatively weak. Not all ladybird eggs are laid in patches of high aphid density. Females use resources from limited prey consumption to produce eggs in modest numbers. They may thus be prepared to lay some eggs quickly when they succeed in finding aphids in high numbers, but otherwise they may have little choice but to lay these eggs in suboptimal sites. Upon locating patches of high prey density, females are faced with the decision of how long to remain. The basic model raises the possibility that these females become passively trapped at such patches until local aphid density collapses. Recent studies, however, suggest that detection of oviposition-deterring pheromones may promote earlier departure from prey patches. Females may also have an innate tendency to disperse throughout their lives regardless of local conditions, as a bet-hedging strategy to spread their eggs widely over space. Additional studies are needed to evaluate further the degree to which females actively determine and vary the rhythms of dispersal and reproduction in response to the unpredictable and short-lived nature of populations of their aphid prey.

Subfields: Insect Science, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3589fd02cb47b71730cc2672f430ed5f2c23a5f4

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In Insect Science

1. D. Landis
2. R. Koch
3. G. Heimpel
4. M. Gardiner
5. P. Brown
6. Claudio Gratton
7. M. O'Neal
8. N. Schmidt

In Plant Science

1. D. Landis
2. G. Heimpel
3. P. Brown
4. M. Gardiner
5. R. Koch
6. M. O'Neal
7. Arnaud Estoup
8. N. Schmidt

Citations in the corpus

• Lady beetles as predators of insects other than Hemiptera (2009, unknown): “One interpretation is that females are investing to a limited degree in egg production even in the absence of preferred aphid prey, to enhance their ability to oviposit quickly upon locating patches of high aphid density (Evans, 2003).”
• Landscape composition influences patterns of native and exotic lady beetle abundance (2009, background): “Like many natural enemies, adult coccinellids are transient predators, foraging within several habitats during the growing season (Evans, 2003).”
• Impact of intraguild predation by adult Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) on Aphis glycines (Hemiptera: Aphididae) biological control in cage studies (2007, unknown): “Through a review of mark-recapture studies this behavior was also described by Evans (2003) who stated that coccinellids often do not remain long in any one location and will forage in many diVerent habitats throughout their breeding season.”
• The global spread of Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae): distribution, dispersal and routes of invasion (2011, background): “Density of adult ladybirds is often positively correlated with aphid density (e.g. Turchin and Kareiva 1989; Hodek and Honek 1996; Osawa 2000; Evans and Toler 2007), and there is strong evidence that emigration rate decreases with increasing number of prey (see Evans (2003) for a review).”
• Lady beetle oviposition behavior in response to the trophic environment (2009, unknown): “Here, I build upon an earlier review on the topic of reproductive decisions (Evans, 2003) by Inc. .”
• The multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis: A review of its biology, uses in biological control, and non-target impacts (2003, background): “Prey searching and oviposition behavior of H. axyridis and other Coccinellidae was reviewed by Evans (2003).”