Egg dumping by predatory insects

0375945 - ÚVGZ 2012 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Corbani, A. C. - Ferrer, A. - Dixon, Anthony F. G. - Hemptinne, J. L.
Egg dumping by predatory insects.
Physiological Entomology. Roč. 36, č. 3 (2011), s. 290-293. ISSN 0307-6962. E-ISSN 1365-3032
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60870520
Keywords : Egg dumping * ladybird beetles * oocyte resorption * trophic egg
Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour
Impact factor: 1.330, year: 2011

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.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0208469