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seven-spotted lady beetle

(Coccinella septempunctata)

Information
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Conservation • Description • Habitat • Biology • Distribution • Taxonomy


Conservation Status
IUCN Red List	not listed
NatureServe	NNR - Unranked
Minnesota	not listed

Photo by Alfredo Colon

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, 24, 27, 29, 30, 82, 83.
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	Coccinellidae (lady beetles)
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.


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Luciearl


Alfredo Colon


Bill Reynolds

lady beetle larva


MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos

Camera

Slideshows

Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata)
Andree Reno Sanborn

slideshow


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Other Videos

Coccinella septempunctata larva, munching aphids._Pristurus
Xylemandphloemgames

About

Published on Jul 30, 2012

No description available.

Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata)
Carl Barrentine

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).

Camcorder


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