Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Brachiacantha bollii - Boll's Lady Beetle

Brachiacantha bollii Crotch - Brachiacantha bollii - female Brachiacantha bollii Crotch - Brachiacantha bollii - female Brachiacantha bollii Crotch - Brachiacantha bollii Brachiacantha bollii Crotch - Brachiacantha bollii Brachiacantha bollii Crotch - Brachiacantha bollii Brachiacantha bollii Crotch - Brachiacantha bollii Brachiacantha bollii Crotch - Brachiacantha bollii Brachiacantha bollii Crotch - Brachiacantha bollii
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 Scymninae
Genus Brachiacantha (Spurleg Lady Beetles)
Species bollii (Boll's Lady Beetle)
Other Common Names
Boll's Lady Beetle
Explanation of Names
Brachiacantha bollii Crotch, 1873
Patronym for Jacob Boll (1828–1880), naturalist born in Switzerland. In 1869, Boll came to Texas, stopping on his way at Harvard to visit Louis Agassiz, who suggested that Boll go to Texas to collect animals for the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. He collected in Texas during 1870 and returned to Harvard to be assistant custodian in the museum. - The Handbook of Texas Online
Numbers
25 spp. n. of Mex. (1)
Size
Length 2.4 to 3.0 mm (2)
Identification
Gordon's figures: Elytron typically with 5 large, round spots, spots often confluent in basal 1/2. (2)

Det. E. G. Riley, 2010
Range
Kerrville, TX to w. LA - Map (closed stars) (2), plus Latimer Co., OK (3) (Note: Gordon lists Ardmore under TX, but the city is in OK)
Season
Apr-Jul (BG data)
Remarks
Type Locality: Dallas, Texas (2)
See Also
This species and B. testudo are similar in appearance, but the elytral spots are rarely confluent in B. testudo, when they are confluent the apical spots have the tendency to coalesce rather than the basal spots as in B. bolli. (Gordon 1985)
Brachiacantha schwarzi resembles the confluent form of B. bollii, but is limited to Florida.
Print References
Crotch, G.R. 1873. Revision of the Coccinellidae of the United States. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 4: 363-382. (p. 379)
Works Cited
1.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.
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.List of Coleoptera Collected in Latimer County, Oklahoma by Karl Stephan (2002)