Rearing larval stages of Hippodamia variegata Goeze (Col.: Coccinellidae) on artificial diet

Abstract

The ladybird Hippodamia variegata Goeze is a widespread species found in many parts of the world. It is an efficient predator which feeds on a wide range of pests, specially aphids and other sap feeders. Mass rearing of this predator, in order to use in biological control programmes, entails a great deal of difficulties, among which are the aspects associated with nutrition. Applying artificial diets is of a great importance in mass rearing of biological control agents. We investigated the use of 15 artificial diets that included three separated experiments, in order to rear larval stages of this ladybird. The survival rate and developmental time were assessed on each treatment. The survival rate of the larvae on best diet was 53.30, 93.33, and 93.33% in different experiments. The developmental time in the experiment 1, 2 and 3 for the larva fed on the Aphis fabae was 15.59, 15.51 and 15.94, respectively, but when nourished by the best artificial diets, this factor was 26.59, 26.60 and 20.59, respectively. Developmental time for the larvae fed on A. fabae was significantly shorter than developmental time of larvae on artificial diets. Our results showed that artificial diets have the capacity to support the larval development to adulthood.