Vol. 12, Issue 7 (2023)

Author(s):
Chunni Kumari, Nivedita Shah, Jayalaxmi Ganguli, SS Shaw and YK Yadu

Abstract:
Studies on the intraguild egg predation of Micraspis sp. and Menochilus sexmaculatus were undertaken in the Bio-control Laboratory, Department of Entomology, IGKV, Raipur, Chhattisgarh during the year 2019-20 and 2020-21. During the study, it has been found that M. sexmaculatus predated more on eggs of Micraspis sp., such as 25 eggs of Micraspis sp. were predated by 4th and 3rd instar larvae followed by the female beetle of M. sexmaculatus with 23.90 eggs. Minimum predation 0.3 eggs were observed by the 1st instar larvae of M. sexmaculatus. However, maximum predation, i.e. (4.3) of eggs of M. sexmaculatus was observed by the 4th instar larvae of Micraspis sp. followed by the female beetle and 3rd instar larvae i.e. (3.8) eggs of Micraspis sp. and minimum predation (0.10) was observed by the 2nd instar larvae and no predation was observed by the 1st instar larvae of Micraspis sp. Hence, Intraguild egg predation by M. sexmaculatus was more than that of Micraspis sp.