Relationships between attack and escape rates, cannibalism, and intraguild predation in larvae of two predatory ladybirds

Abstract

We compared incidences of cannibalism and intraguild (IG) predation (IGP) and quantified attack and escape rates—mechanisms which possibly account for the difference in incidences of these interactions—in laboratory experiments with Harmonia axyridis and Coccinella septempunctata. There was a tendency for H. axyridis to act as an IG predator and C. septempunctata as an IG prey. Cannibalism was also often observed in both species. The incidences of both IGP and cannibalism were different between the species. The average attack rates of C. septempunctata were less than 20%, but those of the more aggressive H. axyridis exceeded 50%. Larvae of both species attacked conspecifics and heterospecifics H. axyridis larvae successfully escaped when attacked by both conspecifics and by heterospecifics, while larvae of C. septempunctata escaped from attacks of conspecifics but not from those of heterospecifics. Thus the aggressive behavior of H. axyridis, in particular, of the third and fourth instars, negatively affects the larval survival of C. septempunctata. It may contribute to the dominance of H. axyridis in ladybird assemblages and its displacement of other ladybird species in several places in the world.