Journal of Horticulture and Agricultural Sciences

Vol. 2 No. 02 (2025): Journal of Horticulture and Agricultural Sciences (JHAS)
Articles

Functional Response of Coccinella Septempunctata (L.) Larvae on Lipaphis Erysimi and Aphis Nerii

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  • Gul Sughra Soomro,
  • Dr. Arfan Ahmed Gilal,
  • Fatima Imtiaz,
  • Areeba Habib Bhutto,
  • Sajjad Hussain Rind
Dr. Arfan Ahmed Gilal
Department of Entomology, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam
DOI: https://doi.org/10.63459/jhas.2025.2.21

Published 2025-10-17

Keywords

  • Aphid, Biological control, Ladybird beetle, Predator, feeding

How to Cite

Soomro, G. S., Gilal, D. A. A., Fatima Imtiaz, Bhutto, A. H., & Rind, S. H. (2025). Functional Response of Coccinella Septempunctata (L.) Larvae on Lipaphis Erysimi and Aphis Nerii. Journal of Horticulture and Agricultural Sciences , 2(02), 112–121. https://doi.org/10.63459/jhas.2025.2.21

Copyright (c) 2025 Gul Sughra Soomro, Dr. Arfan Ahmed Gilal, Fatima Imtiaz, Areeba Habib Bhutto, Sajjad Hussain Rind

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, commonly known as seven spotted ladybird beetles, is the key biological control agent of soft bodied insects, especially aphids. Therefore, a laboratory study was conducted on the functional response of C. septempunctata larvae on Lipaphis erysimi and Aphis nerii. Three densities, i.e., 50, 75, and 100 of both the species were provided to all four instars of C. septempunctata. Each prey density was provided to the larvae in separate petri dishes (9cm) and replenished on daily basis till the conversion of individual instar into the next stage. The observations were recorded on searching ability, handling time, and feeding potential of C. septempunctata larvae on both prey species. Results revealed that the lowest searching efficiency of first instar C. septempunctata was noticed on L. erysimi than A. nerii, whereas the searching ability of second, third and fourth instar was lowest on A. nerii. The maximum handling time (in hours) was recorded in first instar larva of C. septempunctata on both aphid species, followed by second, third and fourth instar larvae. The fourth instar larvae exhibited maximum predation rate on both aphid species, followed by third, second, and first instar larvae. The maximum consumption rate of all instars C. septempunctata was recorded at hundred prey density of both the aphid species, followed by seventy-five and fifty. Among four C. septempunctata instars, fourth instar grub consumed maximum number (89±3.98 and 34.33±1.77 aphids, respectively) of L. erysimi and A. nerii, respectively followed by third, second and first instar grubs. First instar grub consumed minimum number (11.67±2.12 and 15.11±2.62 aphids) of L. erysimi and A. nerii, respectively. Furthermore, among aphid species, L. erysimi was the preferable prey for all C. septempunctata instars than A. nerii. Therefore, it is suggested that conservation strategies should be conducted for C. septempunctata to get maximum population regulation of various aphid species including L. erysimi and A. nerii.

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