For the
Cycloneda lady beetles, there are 3 species in the US and Canada:
C. polita,
C. munda, and
C. sanguinea. They all have the pale curved markings on the
pronotum, which can range from very shallow to completely enclosed.
C. munda and
C. polita can be distinguished by range on the East and West coasts (they may overlap in central and northwestern states). There's a
C. polita with complete circles on the pronotum at the University of California's CalPhotos… Abigail M. Parker, 19 June, 2009
Pronotum with pale yellow lateral "C" or almost a complete yellow ring
(1), but not a separate yellow "spot" as found in
C. sanguinea (seen here):
Very similar to
C. munda (seen here)
but separated by distribution (see comments under Range below). In addition
C. polita tend to be a "rich" red color, whereas
C. munda trend more toward a "faded" orange/red. BugGuide images currently show this color difference well.
