Abstract
Abstract. 1. Adult males of the two‐spot ladybird beetle, Adalia bipunctata, did not show a functional response to increase in aphid abundance and consumed markedly fewer aphids than do the females.2. At high densities of prey, females spent more time in area‐restricted search than when prey was scarce. Males were always less active than females and they did not respond to an increase in prey abundance by a change in searching behaviour.3. After a brief encounter with a female, a male showed area‐restricted searching behaviour. This behaviour occurred in response to encountering a female's elytra and in particular to a chloroform‐soluble component (sex pheromone) present on or in the elytra.4. Males needed to encounter a female in order to respond to her presence, which indicated the pheromone is a contact pheromone.5. The searching behaviour of males appeared to be mainly directed towards locating females; that of females towards locating aphids. This difference between the sexes should be taken into account when quantifying the predatory response of ladybirds to aphid abundance in the field.
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