Journal of Applied Entomology (2014) 138, 338-345

D. Durieux, B. Fassotte, M. Vanderplanck, Y. Brostaux, C. Fischer, G. Lognay, E. Haubruge and F.J. Verheggen (2014)
Is conspecific substrate marking a long-term external memory of previously colonized overwintering sites in Harmonia axyridis?
Journal of Applied Entomology 138 (5), 338-345
Abstract: The multicoloured Asian ladybeetle, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas), aggregates inside dwellings during winters to survive the cold. This beetle uses chemical cues coming from congeners to select an overwintering site. Recent research has shown that they preferentially gather at places where conspecifics previously laid a substrate marking made up of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. Some authors have reported that H. axyridis colonizes the same overwintering sites from 1 year to another. Herein, the hypothesis that this substrate marking is used by H. axyridis to settle in the same aggregation sites from one winter to another was tested. To this aim, the temporal modification in the chemical profile of the hydrocarbon marking was studied by performing chromatographic analyses. After 1 year, the overall profile was modified qualitatively and quantitatively: the unsaturated hydrocarbons were no longer detected while some saturated hydrocarbons were still present in large quantities. In a behavioural assay conducted in the laboratory, the 12-month-old marking did not induce the aggregation of H. axyridis. This result indicates that the chemical markings left by conspecifics during a previous aggregation period in an overwintering site are not sufficient to induce the gathering of the newly arriving individuals.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): François J. Verheggen

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
population dynamics/epizootiology
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
Harmonia axyridis (predator)