Oldřich Nedvěd

University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice · Faculty of Science

The present study investigates the physiological aspects of overwintering in an exposed microhabitat in the lime seed bug, Oxycarenus lavaterae. We found that the overwintering lime seed bugs do not survive freezing of their body fluids, but instead rely on supercooling (freeze avoidance). The seasonal modulation of the supercooling capacity was ve...

In this paper, we examine intraspecific variation in the quantity of alkaloid chemical defence in field collected individuals of the polymorphic ladybird beetle Adalia decempunctata (10-spot ladybird). Like its more widely studied relative Adalia bipunctata (2-spot ladybird), A. decempunctata possesses the alkaloids adaline and adalinine, which are...

Although checklists of the Iranian ladybird beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) have been made twice in recent years, they have a number of shortcomings. Moreover, since these checklist were published, several ladybird species have been added to the Iranian fauna and several previously reported have been excluded. We therefore compiled an updated c...

In this paper, we examine intraspecific variation in the quantity of alkaloid chemical defence in field collected individuals of the polymorphic ladybird beetle Adalia decempunctata (10spot ladybird). Like its more widely studied relative Adalia bipunctata (2-spot ladybird), A. decempunctata possesses the alkaloids adaline and adalinine, which are,...

Species of Pachyneuron Walker are most often reported as hyperparasitoids of aphids, coccids and psyllids (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha). On the other hand, quite many reports concern hyperparasitism in the predators of Sternorrhyncha, mainly ladybird beetles. In this paper we report on the association of Pachyneuron muscarum (L.) with a ladybird Hipp...

Species of Pachyneuron Walker are most often reported as hyperparasitoids of aphids, coccids and psyllids (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha). On the other hand, quite many reports concern hyperparasitism in the predators of Sternorrhyncha, mainly ladybird beetles. In this paper we report on the association of Pachyneuron muscarum (L.) with a ladybird Hipp...

Ladybirds (Coccinellidae) use toxic compounds, mostly alkaloids in their haemolymph, for defence against predators and other enemies. The toxicity of ladybirds to predators cannot be directly assessed because predators show avoidance reactions without ingesting the beetles. The alkaloid of ladybird Harmonia axyridis showed wide range toxicity to di...

The harlequin ladybird ( Harmonia axyridis ) shows a high level of colour polymorphism. Particular forms differ in their colour combination, pattern and abundance. Two species of wild‐caught passerines native to Central Europe were offered various forms of ladybirds, differing in their colour pattern and abundance in nature. We predicted that those...

Three ladybird (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) species, Coccinella septempunctata L., C. undecimpunctata L. and Hippodamia variegata (Goeze), were recorded as hosts of Dinocampus coccinellae (Schrank, 1802) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in the Khuzestan and Kurdistan provinces of Iran. Coccinella undecimpunctata is a new host of this parasitoid in the coun...

Three ladybird (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) species, Coccinella septempunctata L., C. undecimpunctata L. and Hippodamia variegata (Goeze), were recorded as hosts of Dinocampus coccinellae (Schrank, 1802) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in the Iranian provinces of Khuzestan and Kurdistan. Coccinella undecimpunctata is a new host of this parasitoid in the c...

Rate of disappearance of fresh carcasses of various small palatable and unpalatable invertebrates exposed on soil surface in a semi-natural habitat showed how much they are protected chemically and mechanically without the contribution of their behaviour. Highly attractive species for the scavengers included woodlice Porcellionides pruinosus, young...

Beneficial ladybird beetles are parasitized by several species of parasitoid wasps and flies. Samples of ladybirds from Western Iran including Lorestan, Khuzestan and Kurdistan provinces revealed the presence of the parasitoid Oomyzus scaposus (Thomson, 1878). Adult wasps emerged from larvae and pupae of the ladybird Coccinella septempunctata L. (C...

Ivo Hodek, who was well-known for his professional work on ladybirds (Coccinellidae) and insect ecophysiology, as well as a teacher or mentor of many entomologists, and the longest serving editor of the European Journal of Entomology died on June 11, 2021, shortly after his ninetieth birthday. Because of his important contribution to the developmen...

The true bug Oxycarenus lavaterae has spread northwards through Europe from the Mediterranean at the beginning of the 21st century. Temperature and photoperiod in particular countries are important for the prediction of further spread. The timing and conditions for the termination of winter diapause in Bulgarian and Czech populations of O. lavatera...

Many observations have been done in nature but experimental studies of interactions of multiple enemies on Ha.axyridis are rare. In light of this knowledge gap, we tested whether the host phenotype and presence of bacterialendosymbionts Spiroplasma and Wolbachia affected parasitism of Ha. axyridis by the ectoparasitic fungus Hes-peromyces harmoniae...

Harmonia axyridis (Coccinellidae, Coleoptera) is an invasive ladybird that is known to outcompete native species, inflict economic harm, and act as a significant pest species. Harmonia axyridis is parasitized by the ectobiotrophic fungus Hesperomyces virescens (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales). Recently, integrative taxonomy has shown that He. virescens...

Ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) use toxic compounds such as alkaloids in their hemolymph to defend against predators and pathogens. Direct measurement of their toxicity to predators is unavailable as predators show various avoidance reactions without eating the beetles. Because inhibition by harmonine – the alkaloid of the alien invasive lady...

It is believed that the high activity of sun with eruptions causing instability of the magnetic field of the Earth cause various health problems in sensitive people, including such events as heart attack. We analysed the daily frequency of patients admitted with heart attack to the Cardiocentre of the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine...

Ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) provide services that are critical to food production, and they fulfill an ecological role as a food source for predators. The richness, abundance, and distribution of ladybirds, however, are compromised by many anthropogenic threats. Meanwhile, a lack of knowledge of the conservation status of most species and...

Ladybirds (the beetle family Coccinellidae) is a popular and favorite group of insects. There are several books about this family, both for specialists-entomologists, and for naturalists without specific entomological education. There are various web pages with overview of ladybird fauna in several European countries with nice photographs. But ther...

Hesperomyces virescens (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales), a fungal ectoparasite, is thus far reported on Harmonia axyridis from five continents: North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. While it is known that He. virescens can cause mortality of Ha. axyridis under laboratory conditions, the role of biotic and abiotic factors in influencing the...

The cold hardiness of overwintering stages affects the distribution of temperate and cold-zone insects. Studies on Erebia, a species-rich cold-zone butterfly genus, detected unexpected diversity of cold hardiness traits. We expanded our investigation to eight Satyrinae species of seven genera. We assessed Autumn and Winter supercooling points (SCPs...

Overwintering adult coccinellids were collected underneath the bark of tree trunks of apricot, pomegranate, almond and mulberry in the Mehriz region of Yazd province, Iran, from 2009 to 2012 at elevations 1420-1520 meters. We identified and illustrated the following six species: Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus, 1758): 61 individuals, Exochomus quadripu...

Bacterial biofilms have been described on a number of fungal taxa. These microbial communities are of interest both from an ecological and a biotechnological point of view, as they have been shown to play a role in biodegradation and biosynthesis. This study is the first to show the presence of biofilms on thallus surfaces of Laboulbeniales, an ord...

Ladybirds (Coccinellidae) use toxic compounds, mostly alkaloids in their haemolymph, for defence against predators and other enemies. The toxicity of ladybirds to predators cannot be directly assessed because predators show avoidance reactions without ingesting the beetles. The alkaloid of ladybird Harmonia axyridis showed wide range toxicity to di...

Wildlife observations submitted by volunteers through citizen science initiatives are increasingly used within research and policy. Ladybirds are popular and charismatic insects, with most species being relatively easy to identify from photographs. Therefore, they are considered an appropriate taxonomic group for engaging people through citizen sci...

The genus Coccidula Kugelann includes five species distributed in the Holarctic, with one species in North America and four in Palearctic region. Coccidula belongs to the tribe Coccidulini which historically was treated as a separate subfamily within ladybird beetles, but recent studies confirmed its placement as a tribe within the broadly defined...

Hippodamia Chevrolat, 1836 currently comprises 19 species. Four species of Hippodamia are native to the Palearctic region: Hippodamia arctica (Schneider, 1792), H. septemmaculata (DeGeer, 1775), H. tredecimpunctata (Linnaeus, 1758), and H. variegata (Goeze, 1777). Here, we provide an identification key to these species, along with illustrations of...

High and low developmental temperatures can induce physiological stress in insects, including oxidative stress that needs to be eliminated by increased antioxidant activity. Alien invasive ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) possesses high toxicity and immunity defence abilities, but it is sensitive to temperatures above 35 °C. W...

The ladybird Hyperaspis pseudopustulata Mulsant, 1853 was recently reported as the 13th species of the genus Hyperaspis of Iran. Because of the lack of sufficient details in the original description, here we provide more details of morphological features by the help of electron microscope and quantitative morphometric measurements of Iranian H. pse...

A BS TRA CT. The ladybird Hyperaspis pseudopustulata Mulsant, 1853 was recently reported as the 13 th species of the genus Hyperaspis of Iran. Because of the lack of sufficient details in the original description, here we provide more details of morphological features by the help of electron microscope and quantitative morphometric measurements of...

Understanding of habitat favourability has wide relevance to the invasion biology of alien species. We studied the seasonal dynamics of the alien ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in monoculture Scots pine forest stands in southwest Slovakia, Central Europe, from April 2013 to March 2015. Adult H. axyridis were collected monthl...

Harmonia axyridis is an invasive alien ladybird in North America and Europe. Studies show that multiple natural enemies are using Ha. axyridis as a new host. However, thus far, no research has been undertaken to study the effects of simultaneous infection by multiple natural enemies on Ha. axyridis. We hypothesized that high thallus densities of th...

Intraguild predation (IGP) is a ubiquitous, important and common interaction that occurs in aphidophagous guilds. The effects of extraguild prey (EGP, i.e., aphids) density, predator life stage combinations and duration of the interaction on the level, asymmetry and direction of intraguild predation between lacewing Chrysoperla carnea and ladybird...

Harmonia axyridis is an invasive alien ladybird in North America and Europe. Studies show that multiple natural enemies are using Ha. axyridis as a new host. However, thus far, no research has been undertaken to study the effects of simultaneous infections of multiple natural enemies on Ha. axyridis. We hypothesized that high thallus densities of t...

We report on two lady beetle species, Oenopia conglobata (Linnaeus) and Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus), sympatric in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran, closely resembling each other in coloration. This may be an interesting example of M¨ullerian mimicry. The putative model, O. conglobata, retains its typical pink elytral background with 16 bla...

Oenopia shirkuhensissp. nov. (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) is described and illustrated. It was found in the mountains around Shirkooh mountain, Yazd province, and in the Kukhbenan Mountains, Kerman province, Iran. It is similar to a common ladybird Adalia bipunctata by the colour pattern on elytra. Congeneric species occurring in Iran, O. conglobata...

Colour and colour patterns seem to be especially important visual warning signals for predators, which might have innate or learned ability to avoid aposematic prey. To test the importance of larval colour pattern of the aposematic ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), an invasive alien species in Europe, we presented the...

Over the past few decades, many records of the parasitoids parasitizing Coccinellidae have been reported from Iran. Some of them, presented in hard to access conference proceedings, theses, older books and journal articles, were then inaccurately quoted in other papers. Furthermore, some other records were subsequently considered misidentifications...

Extended abstract: Recording of ladybirds by volunteers has a long history in a number of countries in Europe and other continents (Losey et al., 2007; Brown et al., 2008; Saethre et al., 2010; Gardiner et al., 2012; Grez and Zaviezo, 2015; Pocock et al., 2015; Roy and Brown, 2015; Roy et al., 2015). However, there are inherent spatial, temporal an...

The ectoparasitic fungus Hesperomyces virescens was studied on its invasive host, the harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis, in the Czech Republic. A primary aim was to examine the relationship between fungal infection and elytral coloration of the ladybird. Furthermore, the role of host sex and mating status of females were analyzed. Beetles (n = 1...

The harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, is considered to be one of the most invasive insect species worldwide. Its invasion success and extreme speed of range expansion has been partially attributed to weak control of its populations by natural enemies. Previously published data on emergence rates of the hymenopteran parasitoid Dinocampus coccin...

Carotenoids are important pigments of ladybirds providing bright red colouration. We measured the rate of deposition of carotenoids with age in elytra of two ladybird species in ethanol extracts, as well effects of sex and temperature. In Coccinella undecimpunctata, content of carotenoids continued to increase after 60 days of adult age at both 20...

Fungal species identities are often based on morphological features, but current molecular phylogenetic and other approaches almost always lead to the discovery of multiple species in single morpho-species. According to the morphological species concept, the ant-parasitic fungus Rickia wasmannii (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) is a single species with...

1. Few, if any, experimental tests have demonstrated the anti‐predator protection of the developmental stages of ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) against vertebrates, despite the fact that both the visual appearance of ladybirds and the content of defensive compounds fulfil the definition of an aposematic prey. 2. In this study, avian predator...

The harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas, 1773), is native to Asia but has been introduced to many countries, both intentionally and unintentionally. In the Middle East region, H. axyridis was so far only known from Iran and Turkey. This study reports H. axyridis for the first time from a country with a hot desert climate, Saudi Arabia. Th...

The Asian lady beetle Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) is one of the most invasive insects worldwide. It has been introduced into several continents for classical biological control and by accident. The current study is the first report of this species from Iran (new country record). All developmental stages and adults of two...

For biological control it is necessary to store mass-reared biological control agents when the demand is low. The objective of this study is to increase their shelf life without significantly reducing their fitness. The ladybird Hippodamia variegata is a widespread and voracious aphidophagous predator, with an important role in decreasing the abund...

We surveyed ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in 10 stands of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), all monoculture stands 5–100 years old, in western Slovakia, Central Europe, over two successive periods, October 2013 – March 2014 and October 2014 – March 2015. The winter in each period was exceptionally mild. Ladybirds were collected from the lower...

An updated and corrected checklist of species of ladybird beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) known in Algeria now contains 75 species belonging in ten tribes. New country records include the European species Oenopiaconglobata and the invasive Asian species Harmoniaaxyridis . Sampling data is provided for 14 species found during a faunistic survey...

Based on reviewing the previous relevant literature on Iranian ladybirds as well as identifying and studying coccinellid specimens collected during 2013–2016 from various localities in Lorestan province (Western Iran), a revised checklist of the Coccinellidae of Lorestan is presented, with 57 species from 25 genera of 10 tribes. Tytthaspis sedecimp...

A species of ladybird beetles: Coccinella leonina transversalis Fabricius, is newly recorded from Iran. Identification keys to Iranian species of the genera Coccinella Linnaeus 1758, Pharoscymnus Bedel, 1906, subgenus Scymnus s.str. Kugelann, 1794 and redescription of Pharoscymnus horni (J. Weise, 1901) are given.

The harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has rapidly spread in several continents over the past 30 years and is considered an invasive alien species. The success of H. axyridis as an invader is often attributed to weak control by natural enemies. In this paper, we provide an overview of current knowledge on predators and...

Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is one of the most common and harmful species attacking sweet pepper. Here, we compared the predation rate and performance of Adalia bipunctata (L.), Hippodamia variegata (Goeze) and Scymnus interruptus Goeze (Coleoptera: Coccinelidae) fed on Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) infesting swe...

Diverse findings related to reproduction of the invasive ladybird Harmonia axyridis from field observations and laboratory experiments are summarized. Sperm in fertilized females remains viable after several months of overwintering. Progeny of a single female has about 5 different fathers. Melanic individuals in spring mated more frequently than li...

Understanding the factors restricting the distribution of some insect species to high altitudes is hindered by poor knowledge of temporal changes in their cold hardiness during overwintering. We studied overwintering larvae of five species of Erebia butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) differing in altitudinal distribution: lowland E....

Faunistical description of ladybird assemblages from the canopies of agricultural plants and orchard trees in northeastern Iran and determination of the indicator ladybird species that are representative of the region are the main goals of this survey. In total, 21 coccinellid species belonging to 16 genera were collected and identified. One previo...

A key to genera of Iranian Coccinellidae, besides species of subfamilies Chilocorinae, Coccinellinae, Epilachinae and Microweiseinae is given.

Objective: To compare changes in supercooling point (SCP) and cryoprotectant concentration(CPAc) of outdoor-reared caterpillars. Materials and methods: SCP was measured with a thermocouple and CPAc by gas chromatography monthly during winter. Results: Seasonal changes in SCP and CPAc in overwintering larvae followed the pattern of change in am...

Background The tribe Coccinellini is a group of relatively large ladybird beetles that exhibits remarkable morphological and biological diversity. Many species are aphidophagous, feeding as larvae and adults on aphids, but some species also feed on other hemipterous insects (i.e., heteropterans, psyllids, whiteflies), beetle and moth larvae, pollen...

Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has been introduced widely for biological control of agricultural pests. Harmonia axyridis has established in four continents outside of its native range in Asia and it is considered an invasive alien species (IAS). Despite a large body of work on invasion ecology, establishment mechanisms of IAS and th...

Forty-five records of 28 species of ladybird beetles (belonging to 15 genera, 8 tribes and 6 subfamilies of Coccinellidae) as new for particular provinces in Iran are presented. The ten provinces with new records are Alborz, Golestan, Hamadan, Hormozgan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Mazandaran, North Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Tehran, and Zan...

We investigated factors which may determine realised paternity following multiple mating in a promiscuous ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), namely the mating order and ability of males of different morphs to fertilize females. In experiments using males of two colour morphs, we found that the first male had a reproduc...