Lady Beetle - Mulsantina picta

nice to know at last for sure -- thanks, Don

… v belov, 21 September, 2009 - 12:37pm

Mulsantina picta

Jason is the winner. This is the orange form, whose featureless orange elytra are shared with at least two other genera. When the underside is examined, the yellow markings of metasternum, metepisterna, and the pronotal venter are only found in this species. For me the underside is the best way to separate these, and does make me wonder about the other specimens in bugguide that look like this.

… Donald S. Chandler, 21 September, 2009 - 12:26pm

I'll start looking...

The pronotum certainly is distinctive. If I find other dorsal-only photos of beetles that look like this under H*armonia and A*dalia, and there's no associated info ruling Mulsantina out, I'll put them directly under Coccinellidae, treating them as "unidentified" rather than risking "mis-identified."

… Abigail M. Parker, 21 September, 2009 - 12:40pm

Moved

I dropped off the specimen to Don the other day. He should be able to confirm the species.

… tom murray, 2 August, 2009 - 8:05am

any word on this critter?

Just noticed the posts here again and wondered if there was any news on the ID.

… Abigail M. Parker, 12 September, 2009 - 11:30am

why not Adalia bipunctata?

see, e.g.,

showing very similar trends in both pronotal and head pattern. [Remind Don about this one, too...]

… v belov, 1 August, 2009 - 5:22pm

Mulsantina looks good

There's only 4 species of Mulsantina listed in Neartica, and the UNH site only lists the 2 already in the guide. I dropped the specimen off for Don Chandler, so hopefully it will get identified.

… tom murray, 31 July, 2009 - 7:00am

Just a guess here but my non

Just a guess here but my non proffessional oppinion would say Genus Mulsantina. The pronotum looks pretty distinctive to that Genus.

With small variations.

… Jason Wagner, 31 July, 2009 - 6:13am

V is likely correct, but Gord

V is likely correct, but Gordon does mention that Mulsantina Picta is very variable on the elytron.

Gordon : "Diagnosis. Length 3.32 to 5.31 mm, width 2.24 to 3.98 mm. Color yellow except head with black spot on each side of clypeus, spot narrowly connected to black vertex; pronotum with black, median, M-shaped mark, lateral spot connected to M-shaped mark; elytron extremely variable from heavily maculate to immaculate (Fig. 682 c-e). Male genitalia as in Figure 683 a-c. Female genitalia as in Figure 683 e.

Discussion. The elytral color pattern is extremely variable, but the pronotal markings are quite constant and afford an easy means of recognition."

… Jason Wagner, 2 August, 2009 - 8:35am

and you win!

Of all the suggestions, yours was proved by examining the specimen - good job, I was stumped by this one!

… Abigail M. Parker, 21 September, 2009 - 12:41pm

written before H. axyridis really invaded, though

H. axyridis and its W or M marking were a minor side note in Gordon's 1985 work, the species has spread like crazy since then. I think any statement about another species being reliably ID'd by a W or M marking isn't as reliable now as it once was.

(Not that I'm saying this is H. axyridis, just that confident statements about pronota with M's and W's can't be made as confidently anymore.)

… Abigail M. Parker, 12 September, 2009 - 11:29am