|
Species Psyllobora vigintimaculata - Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle
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)
Species vigintimaculata (Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle)
Explanation of Names Psyllobora vigintimaculata (Say 1824)
vigintimaculata '20-spotted'
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 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. |  |
|
|
|
|