The ladybeetle Menochilus sexmaculata Fabricius (Coleoptea:Coccinellidae) is a common and abundant indigenous natural enemy of Hemipteran pests, such as aphids, whiteflies and scale insects, which are all serious pests of various field crops and greenhouse vegetables and thus cause considerable damage in China. Food quality is one of the most important factors that can influence the vigor of carnivorous predators because not all prey species are equally suitable. In order to evaluate the biological characteristics of M. sexmaculata preying on differential prey species, in the present study, the influence of three prey species-Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), Aphis craccivora Koch, and Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch)-on the development and fecundity of M. sexmaculata was studied, using the life-table method, under laboratory conditions. The results showed that the development, survival rate, longevity, reproduction, and life-table parameters of M. sexmaculata differed significantly with different prey species. The shortest developmental period for M. sexmaculata (generational period) was observed when they preyed on R. maidis, with a mean value of (16.40±0.49) days, whereas the longest developmental period ((26.15±0.42) days) was observed when the preyed on B. tabaci. The highest survival rate ((77.93±0.76)%) was observed when the prey species was R. maidis and the lowest survival rate ((52.95±1.98)%) was observed when the prey species was B. tabaci. The highest fecundity ((798.77±44.29) eggs/female) and longest longevity ((68.33±4.31) d) were observed when R. maidis was used as prey. Take these life-table parameters together, we determined that the highest values of net reproductive rate (R₀), intrinsic rate of increase (r_m), and finite rate of increase (λ) were observed when the prey species was R. maidis-these values were 290.281, 0.131, and 1.143, respectively. Moreover, the results also indicated that the generation time was lowest (T=42.428 d) when the prey species was R. maidis. In contrast, the values of the life-table parameters R₀, r_m, and λ were lowest when M. sexmaculata preyed on B. tabaci (71.216, 0.092, and 1.094, respectively). The T value (47.377 d) was highest when the prey species was B. tabaci. Experimental data for A. craccivora were intermediate between those for the other two prey species. On the basis of these findings, the order of suitability of the three prey organisms for M. sexmaculata is R. maidis > A. craccivora > B. tabaci. The results indicated that the aphid is a more suitable prey for the ladybeetle than the whitefly, and that R. maidis is the most suitable prey for M. sexmaculata of the three prey species tested and can serve as a rearing diet for mass production of M. sexmaculata under laboratory conditions.