seven-spotted lady beetle
(Coccinella septempunctata)
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Biology • Distribution • Taxonomy
Conservation Status |
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| IUCN Red List | not listed |
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| NatureServe | NNR - Unranked |
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| Minnesota | not listed |
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Description |
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Seven-spotted lady beetle 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. |
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Size |
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Total Length: ¼″ to 5 ⁄16″ |
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Similar Species |
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Habitat |
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Meadows, fields, gardens, houses. Any place having plants with aphids. |
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Biology |
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Season |
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Early spring to fall |
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Behavior |
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Life Cycle |
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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. |
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Larva Food |
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Aphids |
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Adult Food |
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Aphids, thrips, mites, scale insects, and eggs of butterflies and moths. |
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Distribution |
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Sources |
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| 3/29/2018 | ||||
Occurrence |
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Native to Europe. Introduced for aphid control. Escaped and naturalized. |
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Taxonomy |
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Order |
Coleoptera (beetles) | ||
Suborder |
Polyphaga (water, rove, scarab, long-horned, leaf, and snout beetles) | ||
Infraorder |
Cucujiformia | ||
Superfamily |
Cucujoidea | ||
Family |
Coccinellidae (ladybird beetles) | ||
Subfamily |
Coccinellinae | ||
Tribe |
Coccinellini | ||
Genus |
Coccinella | ||
Synonyms |
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Common Names |
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seven-spotted lady beetle sevenspotted lady beetle |
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The term lady beetle is more appropriate than ladybug because the word “bug” refers to insects in the order Hemiptera. |
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Glossary
Elytra
The hardened or leathery forewings on an insect used to protect the fragile hindwings, which are used for flying, in beetles and true bugs.
Pronotum
The saddle-shaped, exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.
Visitor Photos |
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Alfredo Colon |
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Bill Reynolds |
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lady beetle larva |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
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Slideshows |
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| Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) Andree Reno Sanborn |
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Visitor Videos |
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Share your video of this insect. |
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Other Videos |
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| Coccinella septempunctata - Slunéčko sedmitečné AlfAdek |
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About
Uploaded on Dec 2, 2009 No description available. |
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| Coccinella septempunctata larva, munching aphids._Pristurus Xylemandphloemgames |
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About
Published on Jul 30, 2012 No description available. |
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| Seven-spot Ladybird or Seven-spotted Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) / Siebenpunkt-Marienkäfer Peiselkopp |
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About
Uploaded on Jul 7, 2010 Seven-spot Ladybird or Seven-spotted Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) - Macro / Siebenpunkt-Marienkäfer - Makro In this clip I used the Raynox DCR-250 (8-diopter) macro conversion lens which comes with UAC2000 universal adapter. For the Canon Legria HF200 you need the RA5237A adapter ring. |
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| Larva of Seven-spot Ladybird or Seven-spotted Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) - Macro Peiselkopp |
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About
Uploaded on Jul 7, 2010 Larva of Seven-spot Ladybird or Seven-spotted Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) - Macro / Larve des Siebenpunkt-Marienkäfe - Makro In this clip I used the Raynox DCR-250 (8-diopter) macro conversion lens which comes with UAC2000 universal adapter. For the Canon Legria HF200 you need the RA5237A adapter ring. |
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| Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) Carl Barrentine |
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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). |
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Visitor Sightings |
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Report a sighting of this insect. |
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| This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Be sure to include a location. |
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| Alfredo Colon 8/20/2018 |
Location: Woodbury, Minnesota |
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| Bill Reynolds 7/25/2017 |
Location: Pennington Co., MN lady beetle larva |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings |
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