beetle pupa ? - Chilocorus

Moved

Thanks Abigail! This one's been waiting for a name for a long time, then you came along:-)

… tom murray, 21 December, 2009 - 3:54pm

wow, a really long time!

I didn't look at the date before, yikes! Three solid days at home with my larval key are doing wonders for me and the Unidentified Larva pages. Once I figured out which end was the front, Chilocorus fell right into place.

I may be hitting the key a little too hard, though, last night I dreamed about counting parascoli. "You know you're a bug geek when..."

… Abigail M. Parker, 21 December, 2009 - 7:32pm

Chilocorus sp. - freshly pupated?

To get oriented, the head is facing us. The first segment, at the front/bottom, is the pronotum, which has 5 spines on each side - a key feature of genus Chilocorus. The meso- and metanotum lack tergal plates, with the dorsal spines coming straight out of a struma (tubercle) on the body wall. Most other spiky larvae, including other genera of Chilocorinae and the Epilachninae, have two tergal plates on the meso- and metanotum, and the spines arise from those.

It is certainly very bright yellow, but maybe it's freshly pupated - like the adults, pupae are pale and unmarked at first, gradually becoming darker and acquiring markings. I've never seen a Chilocorus larva pupate so I don't know what the initial color of the pupa is, but there's no reason it couldn't be yellow.

… Abigail M. Parker, 21 December, 2009 - 3:36pm

Moved

Moved from Ladybird Beetles.

… Beatriz Moisset, 6 October, 2008 - 2:49pm

Could it be a bean beetle larva?

A google search led me to several images of Epilachna larva, just before pupation, and they look very similar to your photo. See for instance.
I am pretty confident that we can move it to the guide.

… Beatriz Moisset, 21 June, 2005 - 6:41am

Very possible

It could be one. It would just take a few minor changes to get from the larva you found to the pupa I photographed.

… tom murray, 22 June, 2005 - 6:44pm

Photo

Very neat.

… Lynette Schimming, 8 April, 2005 - 10:41am