Feeding Preference of a Flightless Strain of Harmonia axyridis（Coleoptera: Coccinellidae）between Brine Shrimp, Artemia salina（Anostraca: Artemiidae）, and Aphis gossypii（Hemiptera: Aphididae）.

Abstract

A flightless strain of the ladybird beetle, Harmonia axyridis（Pallas）（Coleoptera: Coccinellidae）, has been developed by artificial selection to enhance colonization. Colonization can also be facilitated by supplementary foods such as brine shrimp Artemia salina（L.）（Anostraca: Artemiidae）. Hence, we conducted a two-choice feeding test using cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover, and brine shrimp. Interestingly, irrespective of whether the beetle had fed on brine shrimp or cotton aphids or neither of them before the experiment, they preferred the aphids over brine shrimp as their first choice. This suggests that even if the beetle consumes brine shrimp before it encounters cotton aphid, its preference for aphids remains unchanged.