CHANGES OF THE PHYSIOLOGICAL STATE OF HIBERNATING 

 IMAGOES OF THE LADY-BIRD SEMI AD ALIA 11-NOTATA SCHNEID. 



Изменения физиологического состояния имаго в течение зимовки божьей коровки 



SemiadaUa 11 — notata Sehn е i d . 



/. HODEK and J. ÖERKASOV 



(Entomological Laboratory of Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 

 Praha, Czechoslovakia) 



Aphidophagous coccineUids are a significant natural regulator of the fre- 

 quency of aphids. Nine months of the year they survive passively in their 

 hibernation quarters. On the successful hibernation depends the efficiency 

 of coccineUids in the subsequent year. 



Changes of the physiological state of the collectively hibernating coccinelHd 

 Semiadalia 11-notata Schneid, were studied during three hibernation seasons. 

 Biochemical analyses were performed to ascertain the contents of water, fats 

 and glycogen, the metabolism - oxygen consumption - was measured, the condi- 

 tion of gonades, fat bodj^ and alimentary canal was revealed by dissection and 

 finally, the behaviour of coccineUids after their exposure to the optimal breed- 

 ing temperature and their resistence against frost were observed. 



The hibernation of S. 11-notata is an imaginai diapause in the sense of difini- 

 tions by Andrewartha (1952), Bodenheimer (1951), Emme (1953), Lees 

 (1955, 1956). The coccineUids being in this country obligatory monovoltine 

 stop the feeding as early as in the mid-summer (having accumulated consider- 

 able fat and glycogen reserves) and fly away to seek for places usually rather 

 distant and prominent in the environing region preferring formations as rock 

 fissures; there they form aggregations consisting of hundreds and thousands 

 of specimens. Most important hibernation quarters of this kind in Czechoslo- 

 vakia are: hills near Louny and the hill Klapy — Hazmburk (north of Bohemia), 

 hills Pavlovské vrchy (south of Moravia) and the south-\vest branch of Tri- 

 becské vrchy (south-west Slovakia) (Hodek, 1960). The hibernation quarters 

 of S. 11-notata reported as yet in the world literature are situated in the moun- 

 tains of Central Asia, 1500—3500 m above the see-level (Dobrzanskij, 1925, 

 Jachontov, 1940). 



The coccineUids arrive in the hibernation quarters as early as towards 

 the end of July till middle of August and leave at the end of April till 

 beginning of May. The time of emergence is determined by meteorological 

 conditions, particularly temperature. It took place regularly by or after 

 a substancial rise of the average decade temperature from the л^а1ие8 under 

 10°C. On the whole the coccineUids remain in their hibernation quarters for 



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