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Species Adalia bipunctata - Two-spotted Lady Beetle

Representative Images

Adalia bipunctata ? - Adalia bipunctata Lady Beetle - Adalia bipunctata Lady Beetle - Adalia bipunctata Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus) - Adalia bipunctata Painted Lady Beetles - Adalia bipunctata - male - female Two-spotted Lady Beetle - Adalia bipunctata Adalia bipunctata - Adalia bipunctata Adalia bipunctata

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 Adalia
Species bipunctata (Two-spotted Lady Beetle)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus)
Orig. Comb: Coccinella 2-punctata Linnaeus, 1758

Explanation of Names

bipunctata (L). "two-pointed"

Size

3.5-5.2 mm (1)

Identification

Highly variable. Typical form has orange/red elytra with two black spots, and a black pronotum with white edges. Rarer forms range from all black to black with red spots to mostly red with 0‒14 black spots.

larva prepupa pupa

Range

Native to Europe and North America; currently across s.Canada, New England, w.US, and a few Midwest records ‒map(2) • Historical range(1) "...declining along with Coccinella novemnotata because of the same factors, and will soon disappear from large areas of its former range." - Danielle Martinez, Cornell U., 2006

Habitat

prefers shrubs & trees(3)

Food

prey generalist(3)

Remarks

considered by New York State to be a "Species of Greatest Conservation Need"(4)

See Also

Spotless forms resemble Mulsantina picta, but have 2 white spots on face instead of 3, and a more tidy pronotal pattern.
Harmonia axyridis is larger and has white center of face (left); the center is black in Adalia (right)

Works Cited

1.The Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) of America North of Mexico
Robert D. Gordon. 1985. Journal of the New York Entomological Society, Vol. 93, No. 1.
2.The Lost Ladybug Project (LLP)
3.Ecology and behaviour of the ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae).
Hodek, I., H.F. van Emden & A. Honěk (eds). 2012. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Chichester, UK, xxxvii + 561 pp.
4.New York "Species of Greatest Conservation Need" (SGCN)
Contributed by Beatriz Moisset on 22 September, 2006 - 7:14pm
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, Robin McLeod, Chuck Entz, Mike Quinn, Tim Moyer, v belov, James Bailey, Abigail Parker, KenW, Edward Ruden
Last updated 25 July, 2025 - 12:07pm

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