Page 12 - Volume 6, Issue 2, July 2013
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© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
1
Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Department
of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Benaki Phy-
topathological Institute, 8 St. Delta Str., GR-145 61, Ki-
fissia (Athens), Greece.
2
Biodiversity Conservation Laboratory, Department
of Environmental Sciences, University of the Aegean,
GR-811 00, Mytilene, Greece.
3
Laboratory of Biological Control, Department of En-
tomology and Agricultural Zoology, Benaki Phy-
topathological Institute, 8 St. Delta Str., GR-145 61, Ki-
fissia (Athens), Greece.
Corresponding author:
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
6:
59-65, 2013
Density-dependent predation of
Propylea
quatuordecimpunctata
L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) larval
instars on
Aphis fabae
Scopoli (Hemiptera: Aphididae)
N.E. Papanikolaou
1,2*
, Y.G. Matsinos
2
, D.P. Papachristos
1
, D.C Kontodimas
1
and P.G. Milonas
3
Summary
The predation of the fourteen-spotted ladybird beetle,
Propylea quatuordecimpunctata
L.
(Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), larval instars on several densities of the black bean aphid,
Aphis fabae
Sco-
poli (Hemiptera: Aphididae), was investigated under laboratory conditions. The experimental arena
consisted of a single plant of
Vicia faba
L. bearing different prey densities (different instars of
A. fabae
),
where a single, starved from food for 12 h,
P. quatuordecimpunctata
larva was allowed to prey for 12
h. Logistic regression analysis on the proportion of aphids consumed as a function of the initial aphid
density showed that predator larvae cause an inverse density dependent mortality on
A. fabae
(type
II functional response). Therefore, data fitted to the random predator equation. Estimated attack rates
were 0.21, 0.23, 0.18 and 0.26 h
-1
, and handling times 5.15, 2.40, 0.83 and 0.35 h for the first, second, third
and fourth instars, respectively. The results of this study may be indicative of the predation ability of
P.
quatuordecimpunctata
under field conditions.
Additional keywords:
attack rate, fourteen-spotted ladybird beetle, functional response, maximum attack
rate, random predator equation
Introduction
Aphids are recognized as serious pests of
cultivated and wild growing plants world-
wide, having a direct and indirect effect
on plant viability. Biological control and in-
tegrated management of aphid pests of-
ten includes the use of aphidophagous
coccinellid species, due their ability to sup-
press aphid populations (Dixon, 2000; Obry-
cki
et al.
, 2009). The fourteen-spotted lady-
bird beetle,
Propylea quatuordecimpunctata
L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), is a Palearc-
tic coccinellid, common in Greece (Kavalli-
eratos
et al.
, 2002, 2004a,b; Katsarou
et al.
,
2008). Based on its intrinsic characteristics
such as the rate of increase and population
doubling time, is considered promising in
biological control practice (Kontodimas
et
al.
, 2008; Pervez and Omkar, 2011).
Solomon (1949) used the term ‘function-
al response’ in order to describe the number
of prey consumed per predator as a function
of prey density and Holling (1959) classified
functional responses into three types: densi-
ty independent predation occurs via a linear
response of prey consumption to its densi-
ty (type I functional response), where densi-
ty dependence occurs when prey consump-
tion increases with a deceleration rate (type
II functional response) or exhibits a sigmoid
response to prey density (type III function-
al response). All types of predation reach a
plateau at high prey densities. Functional re-
sponses are frequently used in order to pre-
dict the effectiveness of predators in biolog-
ical control (Cabral
et al.
, 2009).
