Webb Canyon, ~2000 ft. elevation, Los Angeles County, California, USA
July 22, 2009
So sorry for the poor quality of these pics -- the sun had already set and the light level was too minimal to capture much in the way of details. I found this lady beetle resting on a Eucalyptus leaf and it was quite sedentary at the time, but may have been attracted there earlier by the sugary lerps (white structure shown in photo) of the pysllids,
Glycaspis brimblecombei. Also shown are some lacewing eggs attached to the side of the lerp.
I think there are essentially three possibilities for likely species in my area, but without any ventral shots, nor clear images of the pronotum and facial markings, I don't know if it will be possible to say which one for certain. It looks somewhat close to this
Harmonia axyridis color form, but I'm not sure if the pronotum is ever entirely black as it is on my specimen. I would have the same concern when it comes to considering
Olla v-nigrum. Which leaves the last candidate --
Calvia quatuordecimguttata, which at least seems to have some representative images showing greatly reduced or absent pronotal markings (see link for example).
[EDIT: I completely forgot to mention Chilocorus -- see additional comments below.] I welcome any and all comments and speculations!