Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 25, 2026
Mass-Rearing and Molecular Studies in Tortricidae Pest Insects
Published on: March 25, 2022
Testosterone increases reproduction in the predatory ladybird Coccinella septempunctata
Peixu Zhang1,2, Min Lei1,2, Hongling Liu1
1Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management of Southwest Crop, Institute of Plant Protection, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu, China.
Background:
Aphids are one of the most serious pests of crops in the world, and the ladybird Coccinella septempunctata is the dominant natural enemy of aphids in many locations. However, the high cost of feeding this ladybird limits its large-scale application in biocontrol.
Results:
In this work, we report that testosterone or a testosterone-like substance found in Aphis craccivora plays an important role in the fertility of C. septempunctata. When testosterone was provided as a supplement to the artificial diet at 0.01 mg L-1, oviposition increased and female ovarian development accelerated. Moreover, the expression of genes related to reproductive development such as Farnesol dehydrogenase-like (FDL), Vitellogenin-like (Vg) and Vitellogenin receptor-like (VgR) increased with supplementation. Silencing the FDL gene reduced egg number and egg hatch rate, suggesting a key role for FDL in regulating egg development.
Conclusion:
This study suggests that testosterone naturally sourced through aphid feeding promotes oviposition, accelerates ovarian development and upregulates reproduction-related genes (FDL, Vg, VgR) in C. septempunctata. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.
