Egg dumping by predatory insects

Abstract

Synovigenic insects resorb oocytes when food is scarce and mature oocytes when food is plentiful. These two antagonistic processes allow an optimal allocation of resources to reproduction and somatic functions. Unlike hymenopteran parasitoids, ladybirds cannot resorb mature oocytes present in the oviducts. Is the energy contained in these oocytes lost or is there a mechanism for recovering it when needed? Females of two species of ladybird beetles Adalia bipunctata (L.) and Adalia decempunctata (L.) that are starved for >24 h lay single infertile eggs, which they immediately eat, and these eggs comprise the mature oocytes in the oviducts at the onset of starvation. This behaviour has some similarities to egg dumping reported in herbivorous insects and is part, in ladybird beetles, of a process to retrieve energy invested in reproduction. Such behaviour may exist in other predatory synovigenic insects species that do not invest in maternal care.

Worker drift and egg dumping by queens in wild Bombus terrestris colonies

“…Given that our colonies were sampled in July, August and September, this appears to be more akin to egg dumping, whereby queens enter a colony, lay a batch of eggs and then leave. This behaviour has been recorded in invertebrates such as lace bugs (Gargaphia solani) (Tallamy 2005), lady bird beetles (Adalia species) (Tallamy 2005;Ferrer et al 2011) and in the ant Leptothorax tuberum (Roberts et al 1999), but this was not previously known from bumblebees. Given the lateness of these events, it is unclear whether the queens engaging in egg dumping are old queens from the previous year or young queens produced in the current year.…”

Reproduction in Risky Environments: The Role of Invasive Egg Predators in Ladybird Laying Strategies

“…lib A . pisum were provided to reduce the risk of filial cannibalism [ 64 ], additionally dishes were monitored for evidence of cannibalism, easily detected through the presence of egg remains, and females were excluded from the analysis if cannibalism had occurred. After 24 h females were removed and, along with all clusters of eggs laid, frozen at—80°C prior to chemical analysis.…”

“…Variation in egg mass (mg) with treatment, female mass (mg), total egg number or mean cluster size, and a two way interaction between treatment and total egg number/mean cluster size was assessed using linear mixed effects modelling (package = lme4 [ 71 ]), function = lmer) with female and cluster identity as nested random effects. Models were simplified using a backwards stepwise deletion approach [ 64 ] and results are reported for all main effects and significant interactions (P< 0.05).…”

Cannibalistic Behaviour Sequels of Red-Flanked Ladybird Beetle, Scymnus interruptus Goeze (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), on its Biology and Feeding Potential Under Laboratory Conditions

“…The phenomenon of cannibalism has a severe and clear impact on the population behaviors of many insect species, especially predators (Rudolf, 2008;Ferrer et al, 2011). Cannibalism is one of the important factors affecting both adult reproductive capacity and survival of the immature stages in coccinellid lady beetles (Bayoumy and Michaud 2015).…”