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Photo#179575
Lady Beetle - Adalia bipunctata

Lady Beetle - Adalia bipunctata
Pelerin, near Saint-Antoine, Kent County, New Brunswick, Canada
April 22, 2008
Size: under 5 mm
Was on bark of Aspen on our fifty acre farm; seen in area with several Adalia bipunctata and Chilocorus stigma on bark on same day. I have collected Mulsantina picta, Harmonia, Hippodamia variegata, Hippodamia tredecimpunctata and a few others from the area...

Images of this individual: tag all
Lady Beetle - Adalia bipunctata Lady Beetle - Adalia bipunctata

Adalia bipunctata - Two spotted ladybeetle
with some trepidation, this appears to me to be Adalia bipunctata. It's not the most common color form, but if you check the first two internet links on the species info page, you'll find images that at least resemble yours. And if you google bipunctata you'll see one or two (of ~400) that also at least resemble this one, but no exact match. Most of the close ones have the longitudinal black line extending toward the elytra base, but moved inward toward the suture, discontinuous from that portion below the medial transverse bar (hope that made sense). but the white markings on the middle base of the pronotum are the most telling for me. It's great you got a good head shot, but if you have images from any other angles, please post. This one is special :)

 
Could it be the Painted Lady
Could it be the Painted Lady Beetle? Mulsantina picta? I've been looking up one that looks similar and keep coming back to M. picta....

 
Maybe!
That is an excellent question, Martha. I will look into this with others, both here and on iNaturalist.Given that it was on a tree just like where I most often found Adalia, I automatically assumed another Adalia. But the dorsal pattern does come closer to M. picta than to Adalia. I have also found M. picta nearby.
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/2790466

 
Adalia bipunctata
Hi Tim,

Thank you very kindly for your comment! I don't yet have a good key in hand, but i did keep the specimen, so I will presumably be able to confirm it's ID that way, too, sometime in the near future (Gordon 1985 key on its way). Do I understand correctly that the pattern on the pronotum for Adalia is generally quite consistent? As there were several other Adalia around that day and this has the same general shape, as well as a very similar pattern on the pronotum as the other individuals, I was kind of leaning that way myself. I will post the other pictures shortly as well, of this specimen as well as others seen that day...

 
Gordon is key
great that you're getting a copy of Gordon's ref. I wish all families had a book like his made for them for NAmer.

On the pronotum, I actually believe that it is not 100% consistent, with some having a completely black pronotum (as you'll see from the several bipunctata drawings in Gordon). But when they do have the basal markings like your's, I believe that's a good bet that it's bipunctata.

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