The foraging behaviors of larvae of the ladybird beetle, Coccinella septempunctata L., (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) towards ant‐tended and non‐ant‐tended aphids

The foraging behaviors of larvae of the ladybird, Coccinella septempunctata L., towards both the ant‐tended aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch, and the non‐ant‐tended aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris, were investigated in the field and in laboratory experiments. Although there were no differences in the development and growth of the ladybird larvae that preyed on either Ac. pisum or Ap. craccivora , the foraging efficiency of the ladybird larvae that preyed on Ap. craccivora was higher than that of the ladybird larvae that preyed on Ac. pisum in the absence of ants. This result was explained by the fact that the number of Ac. pisum that escaped by dropping off the plant was conspicuously larger than the number of Ap. craccivora that escaped in this fashion and derived from the non‐ant‐attendance associated with Ac. pisum . In the laboratory experiments, fewer ladybird larvae climbed onto a plant with Ap. craccivora in the presence of ants than onto a plant with Ac. pisum in the absence of ants. The ladybird larvae did not switch from foraging for Ap. craccivora to foraging for Ac. pisum , even after suffering attacks by ants on a plant with Ap. craccivora , and it would appear that ladybird larvae are unable to remember where they have previously been attacked by ants. These results could explain why the ladybird larvae in the field more frequently visited Vicia angustifolia plants with Ap. craccivora than those with Ac. pisum and made more visits when ants were absent than when they were present.