Attachment ability of females and males of the ladybird beetle Cryptolaemus montrouzieri to different artificial surfaces

Abstract To test the effects of surface chemistry and surface roughness on the attachment ability of female and male Cryptolaemus montrouzieri beetles that are equipped with hairy adhesive pads, traction force experiments were performed on three artificial substrates: (1) hydrophobic smooth glass, (2) hydrophobic smooth epoxy resin, and (3) hydrophobic microrough epoxy resin. Also the micromorphology of the dorsal body side and adhesive pads in males and females was examined using a scanning electron microscopy. The traction force ranged from 0.13 to 3.60 mN in females and from 0.28 to 3.20 mN in males. The force values obtained on different test substrates showed highly significant differences and decreased in the following order of substrates: glass – smooth epoxy resin – microrough epoxy resin. In both females and males, the effect of surfaces was similar. The obtained results clearly showed that both surface parameters, chemistry and roughness, affected the attachment ability of beetles. Similar microstructure of adhesive pads in both sexes resulted in similar attachment performance of males and females on all test substrates.