SEMIOCHEMICALS OF LADYBUGS (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) MAY AFFECT THEIR WALKING BEHAVIOR

Authors

  • Christian Sherley Araújo da Silva Torres Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
  • Jennifer Oberger Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
  • Enggel Carmo Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

Keywords:

CHEMICAL ECOLOGY, BIOLOGICAL CONTROL, FOOTPRINTS, INTERFERENCE, PREDATORS.

Abstract

Ladybugs are important biological control agents in many crops. Cryptolaemus montrouzieri and Tenuisvalvae notata prey upon mealybugs, whereas Eriopis connexa is a generalist but preys preferentially on aphids. These species could be found simultaneously in the same agroecosystem. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the interference of footprints left by these ladybugs in their walking behavior. First, adults were allowed to walk in glass Petri dishes (9 cm Ø) for 24h, prior to tests. Next, ladybugs were exposed to the footprints of conspecific and heterospecific males and females in partially treated arenas (n=40 per treatment) and their behavior recorded by ViewPoint™ at 10 minutes intervals. Registered parameters were walking distance (WD), walking time (WT), walking speed (WS) and number of stops (NS). Overall, results showed that conspecific footprints did not affect the walking behavior of the ladybugs (P >0.05), except for E. connexa which had WT affected by footprints of conspecific females (P 0.0350). Footprints left by T. notata affected C. montrouzieri behavior, which had higher WD (P = 0.0174), WT (P = 0.0014), and NS (P = 0.0493), on areas with footprints of T. notata females. On the other hand, T. notata females reduced the NS (P 0.0038) on areas with footprints of C. montrouzieri females. Similarly, Eriopis connexa reduced the WT (P 0.0068) and NS (P 0.0133) on footprints of C. montrouzieri females and T. notata males (P 0.0427). Conversely, C. montrouzieri males had higher WT (P 0.001) and NS (0.0144) on footprints of E. connexa females and males, respectively. Therefore, footprints of heretospecifics affect the walking behavior of ladybugs, and this could lead to dispersion of competitive species as T. notata and C. montrouzieri, or to intraguild predation of C. montrouzieri on T. notata and E. connexa, which in turn may affect biological control of mealybugs and aphids.

Author Biography

Christian Sherley Araújo da Silva Torres, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

Departamento de Agronomia, Fitossanidade

Published

2019-10-19

How to Cite

Torres, C. S. A. da S., Oberger, J., & Carmo, E. (2019). SEMIOCHEMICALS OF LADYBUGS (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) MAY AFFECT THEIR WALKING BEHAVIOR. Caderno Verde De Agroecologia E Desenvolvimento Sustentável, 9(5), p–09. Retrieved from https://gvaa.com.br/revista/index.php/CVADS/article/view/7190

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