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Species Psyllobora vigintimaculata - Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle

Representative Images

Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Tiny Ladybug - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Psyllobora borealis? - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Vashon BioBlitz 2013 - Psyllobora with Laboulbeniales fungi? - Psyllobora vigintimaculata id please - Psyllobora vigintimaculata ladybug - Psyllobora vigintimaculata tiny coccinellid - Psyllobora vigintimaculata Ladytbeetle - 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

Gordon's Figures (2)
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.
Contributed by Stephen_WV on 24 December, 2005 - 6:27am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Chuck Entz, Mike Quinn, v belov, James Bailey, marcie oconnor, Abigail Parker
Last updated 14 February, 2022 - 9:54am

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