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Species Psyllobora vigintimaculata - Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle

Lady beetle - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Twenty-spotted Lady Beetle - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Tiny beetle - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Twenty-Spotted? - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Psyllobora? - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Lady Beetle - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle - Psyllobora vigintimaculata
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Coccinelloidea
No Taxon (Coccinellid group)
Family Coccinellidae (Lady Beetles)
Subfamily Coccinellinae
Genus Psyllobora (Fungus-eating Lady Beetles)
Species vigintimaculata (Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle)
Explanation of Names
Psyllobora vigintimaculata (Say 1824)
vigintimaculata '20-spotted'
Size
1.75-3.0 mm(1)
Identification
Pronotum with 4 dark spots; elytron usually with 9 spots, spots partially confluent, pattern variable; the dorsal pattern will usually separate this species from other nearctic spp.(1)
The base color is always pale (white to light tan); the color and extent of the markings is variable.
Black markings (default throughout range; widespread, except CA)
Bicolored markings (limited to CA, and the only form found throughout the state)
Orange underlay (only in the east)
Limited brown markings (arid SW)
Range
e. NA, west coast, plus scattered western records up to AK (AK-NF to CA-GA) - Map (2)
Habitat
In early spring, occurs in numbers about the base of skunk cabbage and on leaves of various shrubs(3). In summer and fall, on any plant with powdery mildew, from ground-level to treetop.
Food
fungus (mostly mildew on leaf surfaces); powdery mildew(4)
Life Cycle
Eggs; newly hatched larvae; larva; larva; pupa; pupa; teneral adult; mating
Print References
Sutherland A.M., Parrella M.P. (2009) Biology and co-occurrence of Psyllobora vigintimaculata taedata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and powdery mildews in an urban landscape of California. Ann. Ent. Soc. Am. 102: 484-491. (Full text)
Works Cited
1.The Scymnini (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the United States & Canada: Key to genera and revision of Scymnus, Nephus, & Diomus
Robert D. Gordon. 1976. Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, Buffalo, NY, Vol 28.
2.The Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) of America North of Mexico
Robert D. Gordon. 1985. Journal of the New York Entomological Society, Vol. 93, No. 1.
3.A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America
Dillon, Elizabeth S., and Dillon, Lawrence. 1961. Row, Peterson, and Company.
4.American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea
Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.