An experimental study of dietary conditioning on the cannibalistic preferences of Menochilus sexmaculatus Fabricius

The data were collected in a laboratory experiment to study the effect of dietary conditioning of the larval stages and adults on their natural prey i.e. aphids (Aphis craccivora), or the conspecific eggs for five generations. To assess whether cannibalism was affected by prior cannibalistic experiences or not, the adults of the fifth generation were provided with a choice of aphids and conspecific eggs. The time of first prey encounter and the prey (aphid/egg) first encountered along with latency to consume the prey and prey (aphid/egg) first consumed were recorded along with developmental duration and body weight of offspring across generations.