Seasonal Habitat Utilization and Food of the Ladybirds Scymnodes Lividigaster (Mulsant) and Leptothea Galbula (Mulsant) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae).

Abstract

Utilization of plant species by two ladybirds, the aphidophagous Scymnodes lividigaster (Mulsant) and mycophagous Leptothea galbula (Mulsant), was traced weekly for 3 y in a reserve near Sydney. S. lividigaster had a year-round association with Glochidion ferdinandi (J. Muell.) F. M. Bailey, the host plant of a prey species Aphis eugeniae van der Goot. The tree was utilized in dormant as well as breeding periods. In its breeding periods L. galbula utilized Lonicera fragrantissima Lindl. & Paxt. when this was infested with Oidium sp., powdery mildew fungus, but in its dormant periods it most utilized Ficus rubiginosa Desf. Many other plant species were also utilized at particular times; these are outlined. Gut analysis complemented data on habitat utilization; essential aphid or fungal foods were found in guts in breeding periods and a range of alternative foods, pollen, trichomes and other fungal spores at other times. Greatest food range and plant diversity utilized were in pre- and post- dormancy feeding periods.