Moved from ID Request.

Variations of the Variable Lady Beetle - not a new species for BugGuide, but two new patterns to help identify them in the future. (Whew, now I can sleep tonight.)

Please submit your ladybug photos to the Lost Ladybug Project!

http://www.lostladybug.org/index.php

This is a citizen science project from Cornell. They will id your lady bugs and add them to their knowledge base.

Nothing but Exochomus is coming up when I key these out, but I could be wrong. The male looks a lot like Exochomus childreni guexi (although that subspecies isn't supposed to occur in Florida; the Floridian subspecies, E. c. childreni, does not have white markings on the pronotum). The female's pronotum is right for that subspecies, but what's visible of her wings don't match any pattern I can find for either subspecies of E. childreni. I haven't seen the lateral basal spot touching the outer margin of the elytron like that. The dark suture also seems odd for E. childreni.

Some species of Brumoides have elytral patterns like hers, but they're mainly in the West and don't have all that white on the pronotum. Brachicantha and Hyperaspis are small, colorful, and have plenty of white on the pronota, but are much more highly domed. (Besides, that's definitely not a Brachicantha or Hyperaspis male - males do make mistakes, but it's highly unusual.)

So don't take my word for this; I'm waiting for the other lady beetle guys to give their opinions. (In anticipation, I cropped and rotated the image for a better, larger view.)