EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGYENTOMOLOGY ISSN (online): 1802-8829 Eur. J. Entomol. 114: 312–316, 2017 http://www.eje.cz doi: 10.14411/eje.2017.038 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Metagenomic survey of bacteria associated with the invasive ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) KRZYSZTOF DUDEK 1, KINGA HUMIŃSKA 2, 3, JACEK WOJCIECHOWICZ 2 and PIOTR TRYJANOWSKI 1 1 Department of Zoology, Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71 C, 60-625 Poznań, Poland; e-mails:
[email protected],
[email protected] 2 DNA Research Center, Rubież 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland; e-mails:
[email protected],
[email protected] 3 Laboratory of High Throughput Technologies, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, University of Adam Mickiewicz, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland Key words. Coleoptera, Coccinellidae, Harmonia axyridis, microbiota, bacteria community, 16s RNA, insect symbionts Abstract. The Asian ladybird Harmonia axyridis is an invasive insect in Europe and the Americas and is a great threat to the environment in invaded areas. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that non native species are resistant to many groups of parasites that attack native insects. However, very little is known about the complex microbial community associated with this insect. This study based on sequencing 16S rRNA genes in extracted metagenomic DNA is the fi rst research on the bacterial fl ora associated with H. axyridis. Lady beetles were collected during hibernation from wind turbines in Poland. A mean ± SD of 114 ± 35 species of bacteria were identifi ed. The dominant phyla of bacteria recorded associated with H.