Download high resolution image here.

This is the first submission of this species (and of the entire quadrivittata group) to Bugguide.

Identification was made by Rick Buss using R. D. Gordon, The Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) of America North of Mexico(1) (on-line version at Discover Life). There is a photo at Discover Life, which helped confirm its identity. Gordon, Fig. 447 has a drawing. From the key on Gordon, page 410, "72(71). Male Pronotum black on anterior margin; occurring from Idaho east to Iowa, south to New Mexico".

I collected it sweeping a field of Viguiera Multifloraom in bloom, Tree Spring Trail (Trl. 147), 8600-9400 ft. elevation, Sandia Mountain Wilderness, Bernalillo Co., NM.

The original image posted was replaced on Jan 8, 2011 by one derived from five sets of focus stacked images of the subject on a digitally controlled optical stage. Each of these sets had a different exposure, with a 1-stop increment between. Focus stacking, then, was followed by Dynamic Range Enhancement (DRE). Illumination was highly diffused (note oval lens shaddow in center), but DRE was still necessary due to the very black shiny convex surface of this difficult subject. Image Stacking and DRE was performed by CombineZP. The camera was a Nikon D300 with a reversed Sigma 90mm F2.8 macro lens stopped down to F8 on a 585 mm extension bellows.