Chemical defence in ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae). II. Amount of reflex fluid, the alkaloid adaline and individual variation in defence in 2-spot ladybirds (Adalia bipunctata)

Jong, Peter W. de; Holloway, Graham J.; Brakefield, Paul M.; Vos, Helene de

doi:10.1007/bf01240661

Cited by 76 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Our results indicate that the eggs of A. bipunctata are less deterrent to T. brassicae than eggs of C. septempunctata. This finding is in line with the observation that the alkaloids of A. bipunctata are less toxic than those of C. septempunctata (De Jong et al, 1991). Recently, Hemptinne et al (2000) noted that such a defence is of little value if the eggs are killed before their toxicity becomes apparent.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Effects of mass releases of Trichogramma brassicae on predatory insects in maize

Babendreier

Rostás

Höfte

et al. 2003

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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We investigated whether mass releases of Trichogramma brassicae against the European corn borer will have detrimental effects on populations of other natural enemies in maize. In a tiered approach, experiments investigated the host acceptance of T. brassicae towards eggs of Chrysoperla carnea , Episyrphus balteatus , Adalia bipunctata , and Coccinella septempunctata under laboratory, caged, and field conditions. The factitious host, Ephestia kuehniella , and in one case also Mamestra brassicae were used as control. Under laboratory conditions, 53% of the T. brassicae females parasitised C. carnea eggs, 70% parasitised E. balteatus eggs, while 91% of the females parasitised E. kuehniella eggs, with T. brassicae emerging from C. carnea, E. balteatus , and E. kuehniella at rates higher than 81%. No parasitoid offspring emerged from eggs of A. bipunctata and C. septempunctata. However, we observed significantly increased mortality on A. bipunctata eggs, compared to the control, and also found young instars of T. brassicae inside A. bipunctata eggs. In a second experiment where the host acceptance behaviour of the parasitoid female was directly observed for 10 min, 10% of T. brassicae females were found to oviposit in eggs of A. bipunctata , but the development of parasitoid offspring failed. No C. septempunctata eggs, 13% of E. balteatus eggs, 23% of C. carnea eggs, 33% of E. kuehniella egg clusters, and 83% of M. brassicae eggs were accepted for oviposition. In the greenhouse under caged conditions, the parasitism rate of C. carnea eggs (7%) and E. balteatus eggs (0.4%) were significantly lower than of E. kuehniella eggs (21 and 27%, respectively). In the final tier, 3.1% of C. carnea eggs were parasitised by T. brassicae under field conditions. This was significantly less than the observed parasitism rate of E. kuehniella egg clusters (64%). From direct observations of the parasitoids' host acceptance behaviour and the low parasitism rates observed under caged and field conditions, we conclude that detrimental effects of the mass release of T. brassicae on populations of natural enemies in maize are unlikely to occur.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Effects of mass releases of Trichogramma brassicae on predatory insects in maize

Babendreier

Rostás

Höfte

et al. 2003

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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“…The deduced protein sequences of these intact genes were aligned and translated back to nucleotides and the resulting alignment was used to reconstruct a phylogenetic tree using the Bayesian approach. We found three Myotis specific clusters in the tree (electronic supplementary material, figure S2), suggestive of functional innovation of bitter taste in these insect-eating bats [25] because many insects rely on chemical defence against predators [6,26,27]. Notably, we identified seven clades containing four genes from each of the four bats (electronic supplementary material, figure S2), showing a one-to-one orthologous relationship.…”

Section: Results (A) Survey Of Bitter Taste Receptor Genes In Four Bamentioning

confidence: 84%

“…The dolphin represents the first mammal to lack functional bitter taste receptors, probably because they swallow food whole, rendering the taste dispensable [3]. The great reduction of bitter taste function in the dolphin is surprising because natural toxins typically taste bitter, so the bitter taste represents an important natural defence against the ingestion of poisonous chemicals such as plant alkaloids and insect toxins [4][5][6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vampire bats exhibit evolutionary reduction of bitter taste receptor genes common to other bats

Hong

Zhao

2014

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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The bitter taste serves as an important natural defence against the ingestion of poisonous foods and is thus believed to be indispensable in animals. However, vampire bats are obligate blood feeders that show a reduced behavioural response towards bitter-tasting compounds. To test whether bitter taste receptor genes (T2Rs) have been relaxed from selective constraint in vampire bats, we sampled all three vampire bat species and 11 non-vampire bats, and sequenced nine one-to-one orthologous T2Rs that are assumed to be functionally conserved in all bats. We generated 85 T2R sequences and found that vampire bats have a significantly greater percentage of pseudogenes than other bats. These results strongly suggest a relaxation of selective constraint and a reduction of bitter taste function in vampire bats. We also found that vampire bats retain many intact T2Rs, and that the taste signalling pathway gene Calhm1 remains complete and intact with strong functional constraint. These results suggest the presence of some bitter taste function in vampire bats, although it is not likely to play a major role in food selection. Together, our study suggests that the evolutionary reduction of bitter taste function in animals is more pervasive than previously believed, and highlights the importance of extra-oral functions of taste receptor genes.

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“…Brower et al 1967;Brower 1984;Rothschild 1985;Malcolm & Brower 1989). Variation in chemical defence as a consequence of among individual differences in physiology, rather than variation in the host plant, has been less studied (but see de Jong et al 1991), perhaps due to the difficulty commonly experienced in accurately quantifying toxic components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical defence in ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae). I. Distribution of coccinelline and individual variation in defence in 7-spot ladybirds (Coccinella septempunctata)

et al. 1991

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Summary7-spot ladybirds secrete alkaloid (coccinelline)-rich fluid (reflex blood) from leg joints as a defence mechanism against predators. A technique is described that enables the collection and accurate quantification of reflex blood produced, and the amount of coccinelline therein. Coccinelline was found distributed throughout the body, although concentrated in the reflex blood. Reflex blood was collected from a large set of beetles at several time points. Significant variation was found among beetles in the amount of reflex blood produced (for males and for females corrected for body weight) and the coccinelline concentration of the reflex blood. The results are discussed in relation to automimicry and the maintenance of variation through energy trade-offs. The relationships between tendency to aggregate, ability to reflex bleed and the possession of aposematic coloration are also considered.

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Chemical defence in ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae). II. Amount of reflex fluid, the alkaloid adaline and individual variation in defence in 2-spot ladybirds (Adalia bipunctata)

Cited by 76 publications

References 17 publications

Effects of mass releases of Trichogramma brassicae on predatory insects in maize

Effects of mass releases of Trichogramma brassicae on predatory insects in maize

Vampire bats exhibit evolutionary reduction of bitter taste receptor genes common to other bats

Chemical defence in ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae). I. Distribution of coccinelline and individual variation in defence in 7-spot ladybirds (Coccinella septempunctata)

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