Fitness costs of reflex bleeding in the ladybird beetle Harmonia axyridis: the role of parental effects

Reflex bleeding is an important antipredator defense mechanism in Coccinellidae. We examined the costs of reflex bleeding in larval and adult stages of the ladybird beetle Harmonia axyridis on offspring fitness and reproductive performance through the comparisons between bled and control larvae, reciprocal crosses of bled/control beetles, and early and late clutch phenotypes. Beetles bled during their larval stage spent a longer time in development and weighed less than controls. Egg fertility was reduced for crosses where either one or both parents had been bled during the larval or adult stage. Offspring crosses that included a parent bled during the larval stage suffered fitness costs in development and female body mass, while those bled during the adult stage suffered no transgenerational costs. Males that suffered bleeding during their larval stage accelerated progeny development of nonbled females in early clutches, suggesting a positive transgenerational effect of larval bleeding, while males that did not suffer bleeding accelerated progeny development of bled females in later clutches. As the underlying effects of bleeding on females’ offspring in the early clutches were diminished in the late ones, suggesting another transgenerational effect. The strengths of maternal and paternal effects on progeny development of parents bled at the larval stage were higher in earlier clutches. This study suggests that H. axyridis adults are less affected than larvae by the frequent use of the defensive secretions in their stressful habitats.