Vulnerability of larvae of two species of aphidophagous ladybirds, Adalia bipunctata Linnaeus and Harmonia axyridis Pallas, to cannibalism and intraguild predation

Abstract

Vulnerability of larvae of two species of aphidophagous ladybirds, Adalia bipunctata Linnaeus and Harmonia axyridis Pallas, to cannibalism and intraguild predation was assessed in the laboratory. In the first experiment, a first instar of one of the two above species was kept with a fourth instar of the other species in a Petri dish. The number of times each first instar larva was encountered by the fourth instar larva and the fate of the first instar was determined over a period of 10 min. The fourth instar larvae captured and killed all the first instar larvae of their own species at the first encounter. However, when presented with fourth instar larvae of the other species the first instar larvae of A. bipunctata and H. axyridis were encountered 6.4 ± 1.3 (n = 10) and 19.4 ± 2.1 (n = 10), respectively. In this experiment no first instar larvae of H. axyridis, whereas all those of A. bipunctata, were killed. © 2009 The Entomological Society of Japan.