Physiological mechanism governing slow and fast development in predatory ladybirds

Abstract

Aphidophagous and coccidophagous ladybirds, similar to their prey, show marked differences in their pace of life (Dixon, 2000), in particular in their rate of development, with all stages of aphidophagous species developing much faster than those of coccidophagous species. Two hypotheses are proposed to account for the large difference in the pace of life of these two groups. These are that differences in the rate of development are a result of differences in lower temperature thresholds for development or the quality of their respective prey as food (Dixon et al., 2011). Analysis of published results on the rates of development of the eggs of ladybirds indicates that the inverse relationships between the number of day‐degrees required for development (K) and the lower temperature threshold for development (tdmin) of these two groups are significantly different. In particular, the respective tdmin overlap and K of the aphidophagous and coccidophagous species with a similar tdmin are, on average, 38 and 117 day‐degrees (Do). The relationship between the rate of development (R) and temperature (T) for aphids reared on poor‐ or high‐quality foods indicates that, although the value of tdmin of a species depends on food quality, K does not, showing that it is unlikely that K is governed by food quality. Thus, there is little support for differences in either the tdmin or food quality governing the difference in the pace of life of these two groups of ladybirds. The results indicate that the physiological mechanism that may govern the difference in the pace of life between these two groups is the number of day‐degrees (K) needed to complete their development. The possible evolutionary reason for this is discussed.

Development and validation of forensically useful growth models for Central European population of Creophilus maxillosus L. (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)

“…Consequently, the food quality may affect lower development threshold, indicating that the threshold may change depending on a diet. Similar results were reported for moths [61,62] and aphids [63]. It is therefore possible that similar effects may occur in case of C. maxillosus and other forensically useful insects.…”

Effect of temperature and nutrients on the growth and development of seedlings of an invasive plant

“…1998 b ), or the increase in the rate of leafing and tillering of the tropical grass Brachiaria brizantha recorded when provided with nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) fertilizers ( de Bona and Monteiro 2010 ). Unlike in aphids and ladybirds ( Dixon et al . 2013 ; Jarošík et al .…”

Evolution of slow and fast development in predatory ladybirds

“…Detailed analyses of the rates of development at different temperatures of aphid‐ and coccid‐eating ladybirds provided with an excess of food indicate that the difference in their rates of development is not due to differences in body size, food quality, lower temperature thresholds for development or a phylogenetic constraint, but in the number of day degrees they require to complete their development, which in the case of coccid‐eating ladybirds is three times greater than that required by similar‐sized aphid‐eating ladybirds (Dixon et al. ). As the intrinsic rate of increase ( r m ) and developmental rate (1/D) are correlated (Dixon , ) and r m is frequently used as a measure of fitness, the slow‐developing coccid‐eating ladybirds might be viewed as less fit than aphid‐eating ladybirds.…”