The effect of relatedness on the response of Adalia bipunctata L. to oviposition deterring cues

Abstract Larvae of aphidophagous ladybirds leave a cue in their tracks that deters oviposition. The influence of relatedness on this behaviour is for the first time explored in this paper. Two-spot ladybird females ( Adalia bipunctata L.) under different conditions (young and naive, young and experienced, and old and naive) were exposed either to (i) clean filter paper, (ii) filter paper contaminated with unrelated larval tracks or (iii) filter paper contaminated with related larval tracks from their offspring. Oviposition time was recorded during nine hours. Oviposition was inhibited by larval tracks, and was more so by related than unrelated ones. Experienced females showed the same behaviour but with lower intensity. With old females, response was not significant with any type of larval tracks. This is the first report of the effect of relatedness on a ladybird's response to larval tracks.