seven-spotted lady beetle

seven-spotted lady beetle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Coccinella septempunctata

       
Order

Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder

Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles)

Superfamily

Cucujoidea (Ladybird Beetles)

Family

Coccinellidae (Flower, Flat Bark and Ladybird Beetles)

Nativity

Native to Europe. Introduced for aphid control. Escaped and naturalized.

Season

Early spring to fall

Habitat

Meadows, fields, gardens, houses. Any place having plants with aphids.

Size

¼ to 5 16


Identification

This is a ¼ to 5 16 long ladybird beetle.

The body is oval and dome-shaped.

The head and thorax plate (pronotum) is black with a white or pale spot on each side of the head.

The thick, hardened, shell-like forewings (elytra) are orange or red with 7 black spots. The spots are in a 1–4–2 pattern. The forward spot is spread over the junction of the two elytra. There is a white spot at the base of each side of the forward spot.


Larval Food

Aphids

 
Adult Food

Aphids, thrips, mites, scale insects, and eggs of butterflies and moths.


Life Cycle

Adults live for weeks or months, depending on availability of food. There may be 1 or 2 generations in a year before adults enter hibernation for overwintering.


Similar
Species

 


Sightings

Blanket Flower Prairie SNA

Bonanza Prairie SNA

Felton Prairie SNA
Shrike Unit

Mound Spring Prairie SNA

Staffanson Prairie

Western Prairie SNA


Comments

The term lady beetle is more appropriate than ladybug because bug refers to insects in the order Hemiptera.


Images  
  seven-spotted lady beetle   seven-spotted lady beetle   seven-spotted lady beetle    
               

Synonyms

 

   

Common
Names

seven-spotted lady beetle

Sevenspotted lady beetle


 

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