Physical and chemical interference in insects has the potential to modify both foraging as well as reproductive responses of an organism. The understanding of effect of interference in insects has been taken up by workers the world over. Though the role of physical interference in modifying foraging behaviour has been widely studied, its influence on reproductive behaviour is relatively less studied in ladybirds (Hemptinne & Dixon, Reference Hemptinne, Dixon, Polgar, Chambers, Dixon and Hodek1991; Hemptinne et al., Reference Hemptinne, Dixon and Coffin1992, Reference Hemptinne, Dixon, Doucet and Petersen1993; Lemaitre, Reference Lemaitre1992; Doumbia et al., Reference Doumbia, Hemptinne and Dixon1998).
Chemical interference and its role in reproductive behaviour of predatory insects, on the other hand, is widely accepted, with the first report being in chrysopids (Růžička, Reference Růžička1994). This study was followed by many others which verified the presence of oviposition deterring pheromones and allomones in larval tracks (Růžička, Reference Růžička1996, Reference Růžička1997a,Reference Růžičkab, Reference Růžička1998, Reference Růžička2001a,Reference Růžičkab, Reference Růžička2002, Reference Růžička2003; Doumbia et al., Reference Doumbia, Hemptinne and Dixon1998; Růžička & Havelka, Reference Růžička and Havelka1998; Takizawa et al., Reference Takizawa, Yasuda and Agarwal2000; Yasuda et al., Reference Yasuda, Takagi and Kogi2000; Hemptinne et al., Reference Hemptinne, Lognay, Doumbia and Dixon2001; Fréchette et al., Reference Fréchette, Alauzet and Hemptinne2003).
Most of these studies have paid attention to larval interference (physical as well as chemical) and not adult interference with the exception of one on adult tracks (Doumbia et al., Reference Doumbia, Hemptinne and Dixon1998). The findings of Mondor & Warren (Reference Mondor and Warren2000) that Harmonia axyridis adults make fewer visits to areas previously searched by others is probably indicative of the presence of chemicals in adult tracks.
In the work contained in the above communication (Mishra & Omkar, Reference Mishra and Omkar2006), we have assessed the role of physical and chemical interference by adults, if any, on reproduction in an aphidophagous ladybird beetle, Propylea dissecta. We found that both physical and chemical interference by adults had a negative influence on reproduction.
There has been an error in citation of references on page 408 column 1 line 1, page 411 column 1 line 23, and the penultimate line of the discussion. Hemptinne et al. (Reference Hemptinne, Dixon and Coffin1992, Reference Hemptinne, Dixon, Doucet and Petersen1993) have worked on the role of physical presence of larvae and larval odour and not on the larval tracks as mentioned at these points. To the best of our knowledge, Růžička (Reference Růžička1994) is the first worker to have identified the presence of oviposition-deterring pheromones in predatory insects.
The above inadvertent error occurred owing to the use of cross references, which is highly regretted. The references of Hemptinne et al. (Reference Hemptinne, Dixon and Coffin1992) and (Reference Hemptinne, Dixon, Doucet and Petersen1993) were taken as a cross reference from Hemptinne et al. (Reference Hemptinne, Lognay, Doumbia and Dixon2001) and Doumbia et al. (Reference Doumbia, Hemptinne and Dixon1998) and, thus, inadvertently misinterpreted.
