Author(s)

Margaret Louise Allen

US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Biological Control of Pests Research Unit, Stoneville, Mississippi, USA.

A laboratory colony of Coleomegilla maculata (DeGeer), ye, selected for a pigmentation deficiency, was restored to near wild type cuticle coloration by adding crushed heads and wings of the red colored parental strain to the diet. While the wings and other colored portions of the cuticle re-gained the red color, the eyes of the pigmentation deficient insects were not changed from the pale mutant form. Plant derived carotenes lycopene and beta-carotene did not restore the mutant beetles to a visibly distinguishable red color. An additional pigmentation deficient mutant strain, gold, partially recovered red cuticle color when provided with diet containing pigmented insect particles. This work represents the first rescue of a color phenotype in a lady beetle.

Lady Beetle, Recessive Phenotype, Carotenoid Pigments, Forward Genetics, Mutant Rescue, Dietary Supplement

Allen, M. (2016) Pigmentation Restored in Mutant Laboratory Strain of the Lady Beetle Coleomegilla maculata through Dietary Supplementation. Advances in Entomology, 4, 133-140. doi: 10.4236/ae.2016.43014.