Jan.
11, 2013 — By examining what lady bugs eat, U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) scientists are learning more about the movement of these beneficial
insects in farm fields -- and whether they'll actively feed on crop pests.
Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) entomologist Jonathan Lundgren at the agency's North
Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Brookings, S.D., and former ARS
entomologist Michael Seagraves were part of a team of ARS and university
scientists that examined how a lady beetle's diet alters its feeding patterns
and physiology. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.
Lady
beetles are deployed as biological controls of insect pests like aphids and
Colorado potato beetles. Understanding the feeding behavior of these important
beneficial insects will help researchers find ways to most effectively use the
lady beetles as biocontrol agents.
In
laboratory feeding tests, the researchers found that a lady beetle species
called Coleomegilla maculata consumes two to three times more plant
tissue after being fed a prey-only diet than after being fed a mixed diet of
prey and plant tissue. This suggests that plant material is providing some key
nutrients lacking in prey-only diets. It is important to recognize that
non-prey foods contain different nutrients than insect prey, and that beetles
that are fed mixed diets are often healthier that those fed only on prey,
according to Lundgren.
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