Ladybug Pic for your Collection
I haven’t been able to ID it. 12 red spots on black background. Feel free to post it.
Roya
Santa Ana, CA

Hi Roya,
We cannot locate a match on BugGuide. We will see if Eric Eaton has a clue about this Ladybird Beetle.

Very exciting! Heres a head shot to help identify it and in case i’m mistaken about it being a ladybird.
Roya

Eric Eaton wrote back to us with this information: ” Hi, Daniel: My first thought is that this could simply be one of the color variants of the multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis. I believe there is a chart somewhere out in the world wide web that shows some of the many variations for that species. I’ve contacted my publisher to suggest that they buy advertising for my book on WTB, if that agrees with you? You should hear from someone at Houghton Mifflin in the next week or two.
Eric “

I think this is a Hyperaspis species, and presumably it is something exotic… I couldn’t find the species. The closest I could get (not very close at all, because it’s 10-spot rather than 12-spot, and yellow spots rather than red ones) was illustration 2 on this page, which shows a Hyperaspis species with a tentative ID of jocosa.
Susan

Update: (03/10/2007)
Thanks Eric for the correct ID! Wow, I had no idea what a staggeringly variable species Harmonia axyridis is in terms of color morphs: it has an unbelievable degree of variation! Yes, that chart you are talking about does show this red-spotted 12-spot form at: http://web.anglia.ac.uk/appsci//lifesci/lifestaff/harlequin_01.htm And there is a picture of a somewhat similar Harmonia axyridis individual which has 12 orange spots at: http://zooex.baikal.ru/beetles/coccinellidae.htm
Susan

Some sort of ladybug?
Hi Bugman,
I’ve taken a look through your ladybug page, and was not able to find a match to the photo I’ve sent you. I imagine that this is some sort of ladybug. I’ve never seen a ladybug like this one before…the white on it is throwing me off. Sorry the photo isn’t very good. Thanks for any help you can give. I’ll keep looking through the beetle pages, and maybe I’ll find a match there.
Yvonne
Barrie, Ontario

Hi Yvonne,
It is nice to hear from you again. This is an Eye Spotted Ladybird Beetle, Anatis mali.

Chilocorus stigma – Twice-stabbed Lady Beetle
Hello favorite bug people!
I took these pics in Kane County, Illinois today. What a freaky looking little ladybug. I’ve never seen anything like this one. I found something similar on your ladybug page (see entry dated 10/19/2005) but it doesn’t quite match up. The one I found did not appear to have any white patches on it’s face. I also grabbed a shot of it’s belly in case this helps with id’ing. It was about the same size as a typical lady bug, maybe slightly smaller, but not much. After picking up clues from your site, I delved into the enormous bugguide.com and found what appeared to me to be an exact match, The Twice-stabbed Lady Beetle. What an appropriate name based on her appearance! As usual, your site, expertise, and hard work are greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Michelle Nash
Lily Lake, IL

Hi Michelle,
We wish we could hire you to help research our site. Thanks for the photo of the Twice-Stabbed Ladybird Beetle.

Update: (03/10/2007)
Looking at ladybirds on-line, I noticed that the ladybird which was ID’ed as the Twice-Stabbed ladybird, Chilocorus stigma, on 07/12/2006, is in fact something different. This is an introduced Korean ladybird beetle that was used as a biological control agent in several parts of the USA, and seems to have spread widely. It’s Chilocorus kuwanae, and this page shows the differences between the two species, as well as giving a lot more useful information. http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/predators/chilocorus.html
Susan

Cream-spot Ladybird?
Hello again
After a good morning’s insect spotting in the UK in Hertfordshire, i came across this ladybird which i believe is called a ‘cream-spot ladybird’?
All the best Ben

Hi Ben,
Thanks for sending in the photo of the Cream Spot Ladybird, Calvia 14-guttata. We actually have done many identification for our friends across the pond, but they are not organized by location, and readers need to sift through our taxonically organized pages to find them. Wood Wasps and Sphinx Moths are common query subjects.

ladybug stages
I love your sight! As a homeschooling mom, my kids and I frequently visit What’s That Bug to identifiy and classify everything in our area. Recently, we ran across these bugs on and under our pecan tree. I think we’ve identified and photographed three of the four stages of a ladybug’s life. I’m sorry the larvae is so blurry; that’s not the camera but simply user error on my part. Please let us know if we’re right.
Thanks,
Ginger
New Mexico

Hi again GInger,
Your identification is correct. We will not post the blurry larva photo as we have many larval Ladybird images, but Pupa are a bit rarer in our archive.

Lady bug love
Thought you might like this photo…I assume the Lady bugs (and Guy bugs, too, presumably) aren’t just hanging together for the body warmth. Photo taken near Santa Maria, CA (as is the prior photo I sent a week ago of what I think might be a male black widow?). This area is primarily a large coastal-oak forest where I am. Thanks for the awesome site.
Tom Jolly
Vandenberg AFB, CA

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the wonderful Convergent Ladybird Beetle Aggregation image. According to Hogue, the Convergent Ladybird Beetle, Hippodamia convergens, “is the species most often seen in the garden. It is 3/16 to 1/4 inch long and is either solid red or red with several small black spots …. The Convergent Lady is the most important ladybird used in the biological control of aphids. During the late summer and fall, the adult congregate in great masses in mountain canyons and other cool protected places. Here they hibernate for up to nine months, frequently buried beneath the snow, until the first warm spring days, when they move back to the valleys. While still massed, they are collected by entrepeneurs, who sell them in nurseries for release in home gardens. Specimens sometimes accumulate on beach driftage after having been carried out to sea by Santa Ana winds and drowned while making their translocation flights.”