Biology, Ecology and Behaviour of Aphidophagous Insects. Arquipélago. Life

H. axyridis is a highly polymorphic ladybird beetle with phenotypes that vary in their elytral patterns. In natural populations the relative frequency of phenotypes is not constant, but is subject to a strong geographic and temporal variation. The selective forces that are the basis for those variation are diverse and difficult to determine. In this work we suggest that fitness of phenotypes could contribute to these variations. That is, a specific genotype could also confer a specific reproductive capacity. We compare the reprodutive capacity of adults of five phenotypes [succinea (h) or s0, succinea-3 (h3) or s9, conspicua-1 (hC1) or c1, aulica-1 (hA1) or au and nigra [? (h?)] or ni]. Our results show that under the same biotic and abiotic conditions, there are differences in biological parameters of the phenotypes that affect their fitness. The rare phenotype nigra, and the relatively uncommon aulica have lower reproductive capacity than the most frequent phenotypes succinea and conspicua