something waxy or linty was eaten?

the surface of the plant has more. Maybe it just got collected walking around.

wooly aphid on a pine needle that the lady beetle was munching on when I took the shot. What I am refering to in my post is the white carapace behind the head of the lady beetle. If you squint hard enough, you can make out what look like growths under the chitin. I am wondering if this is from the fungus on the beetle's back or something else.

Yeah I see what you mean under the pronotum there. Does look like that could be fungus growing under it, and since it has plenty of fungus growing on its left side it wouldn't suprise me. Hard to be certain though, it could just be odd coloration of the beetle since Harmonia axyridis are so variable.

I'm leaning more towards sign of unhealthyness though. After looking through some pictures all the seemingly healthy Harmonia axyridis have pretty solid white pronotums and mostly solid coloration elsewhere.

Here's another with fungus that looks mottled as well.

(in my limited experience) appears on ladybugs without apparent fungal infection which is why I am asking in this case. I wasn't sure if it indicated illness from fungus or some animal parasite. Many of the Harmonia in this area have mottling of the pronotum, but I wasn't able to get clear enough photos before to check it out. I am thinking I am going to get as many very close shots of various ladybugs' "faces" as I can and try to determine if it is linked to illness or just simple individual discoloration (similar to skin mottling/blemishes in humans). Of course, I have no scientific credentials or expertise, so this will be a strictly Amateur Hour effort, based simply on observation. Thanks, Natalie.

Even if it is Amateur Hour it'll be interesting to see. I also wonder if the age of the lady bug has anything to do with it, since you compared it to human skin and we often have more skin discolorations as we age.

I'm starting to wonder if a section for "lady beetles with fungus" would be worthwhile, at least to collect data points. We seem to be getting more & more photos of H. axyridis w/ the yellow Laboulbeniales fungus, and seeing it up close like this is especially interesting. I don't know if it grows under the elytra or pronotum, or just on top of them; that's mostly because I've only seen photos of it on the beetle though. By all means, take on the project and flip the beetles over too, if you can. Whether the photos remain on the Guide or not (I keep getting reminded how many H. axyridis there are!) it will be interesting to see your results.

I'm not sure I am quite at the stage where I can deliberately damage the pupae of the beetles I rear to see the effects on the adults (fungal growth or misshapen elytra, e.g.), I may be too soft-hearted for that. If I find dinged-up or damaged pupae in the wild I'll definitely take them home and see what comes out.

As for Laboulbeniales, they occur almost exclusively on adult hosts, infections of pre-imaginal stages are excessively rare and only observed on particular hosts (cockroaches, termites and ants; Benjamin 1971).

Best wishes,
Danny Haelewaters

if you want. They may not be great. I had been moving on if they were infected, so I skipped or deleted a lot, but I still have some.

but there is some right behind the flash glare and some below the spot on the left border.