The comparative study on adult surface ultrastructure of Harmonia axyridis Pallas (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Abstract

Scanning electron microscopy was used to line scan 7 positions (pronotum, scutellum, elytra, abdominal sternites, head, maxillary palpus and labial palpus) of 11 Harmonia axyridis Pallas with different color patterns to make up for the lack of general morphological observation, and at the same time it was also used to further study the relationship of ultrastructure and predatory behavior of Harmonia axyridis Pallas to establish the important research foundation. The results show that the hair on the body of the elytra of the different H. axyridis directly stretches out from the surface of the hole and only few hairs on the body of the elytra stretched out from the concave surface of the elytra. Moreover, the hollow on the elytra edge increased significantly, though no two body hairs were produced on one hollow, and the granular material was borne on the first baseline web splices. It was observed that the hair densities of pronotum, scutellum, elytra, and abdominal sternites from the 11 types of H. axyridis Pallas showed some diversity. Likewise, the number of sensilla from the head, abdominal sternites, maxillary palpus, and labial palpus showed some differences. These findings highlight the fact that ultrastructure supplement was provided to the morphological aspect of H. axyridis.