The role of vision and color in the close proximity foraging behavior of four coccinellid species

Abstract

The role of vision and color in close-proximity foraging behavior was investigated for four species of lady beetles: Coccinella septempunctata, Hippodamia convergens, Harmonia axyridis, and Coleomegilla maculata. The effect of light level and color cues on consumption rates varied among the four predator species. The consumption rates of these predators on the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) was measured under light and dark conditions. C. septempunctata,H. convergens, and Ha. axyridis consumed significantly more aphids in the light than in the dark, while the consumption rate of Col. maculata was not affected by light level. Foraging ability was also measured on red and green color morphs of the pea aphid on red, green, and white backgrounds. C. septempunctata consumed significantly more of the aphid morph that contrasted with the background color, and showed no difference between morphs on the white background. H. axyridis consumed significantly more red morph aphids regardless of background. The remaining two species showed no difference in consumption rates on the two color morphs. The variation in the use of visual cues demonstrates how different species of predators can exhibit different foraging behaviors when searching for the same prey.

Testing the AC/DC hypothesis: Rock and roll is noise pollution and weakens a trophic cascade

“…Although H . axyridis is generally considered a visual predator (Harmon, Losey, & Ives, 1998), it may use vibrational cues to find prey, as has been shown in other beetles (Pfannenstiel, Hunt, & Yeargan, 1995). Alternatively, sound waves directly striking the plants or aphids could have indirect effects on lady beetles.…”

Chemical cues mediating aphid location by natural enemies

“…Michaud & Mackauer, 1994 and predators (e.g. Harmon et al, 1998). For example, A. ervi prefers to oviposit into green rather than red clones of the aphid A. pisum (Michaud & Mackauer, 1994;Libbrecht et al, 2007).…”

“…Praon pequodorum Viereck females rarely attack aphids when they are not moving (Michaud & Mackauer, 1995). The ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) C. septempunctata, Hippodamia convergens Guerin, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas), and Coleomegilla maculata (DeGeer) selectively attack red and green clones of A. pisum (Harmon et al, 1998). Therefore, predators and parasitoids use a number of physical cues to locate aphids at short range and these may influence preferences for ovipositing or feeding on a particular species or clone.…”

Reproductive performance of Propylea japonica (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) under various light intensities, wavelengths and photoperiods

“…Coccinellids also exhibit sensitivity to light conditions such as wavelength (Veeresh, 1974;Nalepa, 2013) and photoperiod (e.g., Wang et al, 2013b). Coccinellids have color vision and, when foraging, species vary considerably in how they respond to both prey color and its contrast with background coloration (Harmon et al, 1998). Until recently, however, little attention has been given to how lighting conditions or wavelength may influence their mating behavior and reproductive performance.…”