Responses of the predatory species, Coccinella undecimpunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), to the volatiles from its prey, Aphis craccivora Koch. and Vicia faba plant

Abstract

Background Plants after infestation emit specific volatiles, which can influence foraging behavior of insect predators of herbivores. This work aimed to evaluate the responses of the predatory species, Coccinella undecimpunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), adults to volatiles emitted from its cowpea aphid prey, Aphis craccivora (Koch.), and from Vicia faba plant to improve the efficiency of searching for its prey. An olfactometer bioassay was used for this investigation. Results The results revealed that both male and female of C. undecimpunctata significantly used olfactory cues from infested plant + aphids, but the mated females exhibited a complete response (47.50%). The mated male was attracted to aphids (30.0%) more than other tested predatory types, indicating the capacity to exploit volatiles induced by aphids. Conclusions The results supported that C. undecimpunctata adult uses plant volatiles induced by A. craccivora infestation, which might act as reliable indicators to find its prey.

Factors affecting host plant selection in alfalfa aphids

“…On the other hand, it has a huge reproductive potential that is reflected in the fact that in alfalfa under optimal conditions one generation develops in 6-9 days, and a single female produces over 80 larvae (Berberet et al, 2009). The feeding of such dense colonies of A. craccivora leads to a change in the odor profile of plants, which is confirmed by studies of the behavior of ladybugs which efficiently find infested plants (Fouad, 2021). Our research shows that these changes have a repellent effect on T. trifolii and A. pisum, which is in line with research showing that changes in VOCs that are attractive to natural enemies (Vučetić et al, 2014) are repellent to aphids (Dahlin et al, 2015).…”

Behavioral response of Coccinella septempunctata (L.) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) to plant volatiles infested by a chewing herbivore, Epilachna vigintioctopunctata versus a sucking pest, Aphis gossypii

“…It is now well-documented that, when attacked by herbivores or pathogens, plants enhance the production of volatiles quantitatively [18] and emit specific odors that differ from intact plants, which are called herbivore-induced plant volatiles [37] . Several previous studies have given evidence that odors from infested or infected plants or synthesized HIPV compounds can positively attract ladybeetles [5,17,21,32,50,53] , including C7 [33] . HIPVs are important cues for predators to find their prey [20,49] in a reliable and welldetectable way [13] .…”

Efficiency of three indigenous species of coccinellid predators for controlling aphids and whiteflies on cucumbers in greenhouses

“…The predatory coccinellids Coccinella undecimpunctata L., Coccinella septempunctata L., and Hippodamia variegata Goeze are effective predators of different insect pests, including whiteflies and aphids, in both fields and greenhouses because of their high predation efficacy (Franzman 2002;Cabral et al 2008). These three species are widely distributed in many parts of the world, including different regions of Saudi Arabia (El-Hawagry et al 2013;Al-Deghairi et al 2014;Sayed 2016). Generally, indigenous natural enemies are more suitable for controlling pests in their native regions when the level of control by resident populations of natural enemies is insufficient.…”