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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Series Cucujiformia » Coccinelloidea » Coccinellid group » Lady Beetles (Coccinellidae) » Coccinellinae » Fungus-eating Lady Beetles (Psyllobora)

Genus Psyllobora - Fungus-eating Lady Beetles

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Food · Works Cited
Tiny black & white ladybug - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle larva - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Twenty-Spotted? - Psyllobora vigintimaculata 20-spot ladybug - Psyllobora borealis Psyllobora borealis Kidney-spotted Psyllobora - Psyllobora renifer ladybug - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Psyllobora renifer? - Psyllobora renifer
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles)
No Taxon (Series Cucujiformia)
Superfamily Coccinelloidea
No Taxon (Coccinellid group)
Family Coccinellidae (Lady Beetles)
Subfamily Coccinellinae
Genus Psyllobora (Fungus-eating Lady Beetles)
Explanation of Names
psyllo is Greek for a flea, probably referring to the small size; boreal is Greek for northern. (1)
Numbers
in our area:
P. vigintimaculata (Say 1824) - widely dist.
P. borealis Casey 1899 - west of the Rockies

P. plagiata Schaeffer 1908 - se AZ, w. TX
P. renifer Casey 1899 - mostly along Mexican border

P. parvinotata Casey 1899 - coastal se US
P. schwarzi Chapin 1957 - so. FL
P. nana Mulsant 1850 - s. FL
Size
Adults 1.5-3.5 mm; larvae up to twice as long
Identification
Key to species [adapted from(2)]:

P. vigintimaculata, Twenty-spotted Lady Beetle - most of North America except coastal Southeast and Florida. Pronotum always has spots (may be light brown/yellow), elytra markings with various levels of coalescence, can include yellow and orange markings.

P. borealis - northern New Mexico west to Pacific, up to British Columbia and Alberta. Apical spot well separated from lateral spot behind middle; may also have lateral spot narrowly connected to discal spot.

P. nana - Florida. Common sutural spot on elytra apical third (completely joined at middle of back)

P. parvinotata - Florida and Gulf Coast states. Small elytral maculae, usually not confluent; sometimes with immaculate pronotum. (Name means "poorly marked.")

P. plagiata - southern Arizona. Elytral maculae reduced, with only subapical spot large; form broadly oval.

P. renifer - Louisiana, Southwest from TX to California, and up the CA Sierra to Tahoe; elytra markings always coalescent.


Larvae: Gray with black and sometimes orange markings, tubercles bearing many fine pale hairs (setae).
Range
Canada to Central America
Food
Plant mold, especially powdery mildew (uniquely in the family)
Works Cited
1.Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms
Donald J. Borror. 1960. Mayfield Publishing Company.
2.The Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) of America North of Mexico
Robert D. Gordon. 1985. Journal of the New York Entomological Society, Vol. 93, No. 1.
Contributed by Joel Kits on 3 April, 2005 - 1:17pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, Tim Moyer, v belov, Abigail Parker, T. Hedlund
Last updated 23 December, 2021 - 8:20am

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