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1 April 2013 Responses of an Aphidophagous Ladybird Beetle, Anegleis Cardoni, to Varying Densities of Aphis gossypii
Omkar, Gyanendra Kumar
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Abstract

Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the functional and numerical responses of fourth instar larvae, adult male, and adult female ladybird beetles, Anegleis cardoni Weise (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), to different densities of aphids, Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae), on the bottle gourd, Lagenaria vulgaris Seringe (Cucurbitales: Cucurbitaceae). The results revealed a density dependent, Type II functional response of A. cardoni. Prey consumption increased curvilinearly with an increase in prey density for all three predatory stages. Numerical responses revealed significant increases in oviposition with increases in prey density. The food exploitation efficiency and the efficiency of conversion of ingested food decreased with increases in prey density. The attack rate was highest for adult females, followed by fourth instar larvae and adult males. Prey consumption was highest and handling time lowest in fourth instar larvae, followed by adult females and males. Therefore, fourth instar larvae of A. cardoni may be considered the most efficient predatory stage in aphid management strategies.

This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.
Omkar and Gyanendra Kumar "Responses of an Aphidophagous Ladybird Beetle, Anegleis Cardoni, to Varying Densities of Aphis gossypii," Journal of Insect Science 13(24), 1-12, (1 April 2013). https://doi.org/10.1673/031.013.2401
Received: 11 August 2011; Accepted: 17 July 2012; Published: 1 April 2013
KEYWORDS
ECI
food exploitation
functional response
numerical response
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