seven-spotted lady beetle
(Coccinella septempunctata)
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Biology • Distribution • Taxonomy
|
|
||||||||||||||
Description |
Seven-spotted lady beetle is an exotic, 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. |
Size |
Total length: ¼″ to 5 ⁄16″ |
Similar Species |
Habitat |
Meadows, fields, gardens, houses. Any place having plants with aphids. |
Biology |
Season |
Early spring to fall |
Behavior |
|
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. |
Larva Food |
Aphids |
Adult Food |
Aphids, thrips, mites, scale insects, and eggs of butterflies and moths. |
Distribution |
||
|
Sources |
|
| 7/9/2024 | ||
Occurrence |
||
Native to Europe. Introduced for aphid control and intruduced accidentally. Escaped and naturalized. |
||
Taxonomy |
|
Order |
Coleoptera (beetles) |
Suborder |
Polyphaga (water, rove, scarab, long-horned, leaf, and snout beetles) |
Infraorder |
Cucujiformia |
Superfamily |
Coccinelloidea (lady, fungus, scavenger, and bark beetles) |
Family |
|
Subfamily |
Coccinellinae (common lady beetles) |
Tribe |
Coccinellini (black-spotted lady beetles) |
Genus |
Coccinella |
Subordinate Taxa |
|
seven-spotted lady beetle (Coccinella septempunctata ssp. brucki) seven-spotted lady beetle (Coccinella septempunctata ssp. septempunctata) |
|
Synonyms |
|
|
|
Common Names |
|
seven-spot ladybird beetle seven-spotted lady beetle seven-spotted ladybird beetle seven-spotted lady bug |
|
Glossary
Elytra
The hardened or leathery forewings of beetles used to protect the fragile hindwings, which are used for flying. Singular: elytron.
Pronotum
The exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.
Visitor Photos |
||
Share your photo of this insect. |
||
This button not working for you? |
||
Alfredo Colon |
||
 |
 |
|
Luciearl |
||
 |
|
|
Bill Reynolds |
||
 |
 |
|
lady beetle larva |
||
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
||
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Slideshows |
Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) |
|
Visitor Videos |
||
Share your video of this insect. |
||
This button not working for you? |
||
|
Other Videos |
||
Coccinella septempunctata larva, munching aphids._Pristurus |
About
Published on Jul 30, 2012 No description available. |
Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) |
About
Published on Jun 6, 2013 This Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) pauses to groom itself before continuing its lichen-paved trek. According to Eaton and Kaufman, this introduced species (the C-7) "has been spreading since its accidental introduction to Bergen County, New Jersey, in 1973." It's well-established in Minnesota and North Dakota now. Photographed at Fisher, Minnesota (06 June 2013). |
Visitor Sightings |
||
Report a sighting of this insect. |
||
This button not working for you? |
||
Alfredo Colon |
Location: Albany, NY |
 |
Luciearl |
Location: Lake Shore, MN |
 |
| Alfredo Colon 8/20/2018 |
Location: Woodbury, Minnesota |
|
| Bill Reynolds 7/25/2017 |
Location: Pennington Co., MN lady beetle larva |
|
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings |
||
Created: Last Updated: © MinnesotaSeasons.com. All rights reserved. |