PHENOTYPIC DIVERSITY OF POTATO LADYBIRD POPULATION

The 28-spotted potato ladybird Henosepilachna vigintioctomaculata is an endemic pest of field crops in the Russian Far East. The phenetic structure research of this phytophage population can help to monitor the processes occurring in ecosystems, to study the resilience to pesticides and to resistant varieties, as well as to make a significant contribution to the study of the endemic fauna of the Far East. The elytra pattern to study the polymorphism and structure of a potato ladybird population was analyzed. The size and shape of spots, the intensity of color, the position of spots on the elytra, the presence of connected spots were taken into account. As the result, nine phenoforms were identified. The phenoform A2 prevailed (47.81%). The phenoforms A1 and A6 were also frequently discovered. The phenoform A9 had the most seldom occurrence (1.82%). It was stated that morphotypes differ by the linear dimension of elytra spots. The form A2 was characterized by the largest spots. The size of the patterns varied from (104.98 ± 0.071) to (297.01 ± 0.065)μ. The form A1 had the smallest spots.