Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Orig. Comb:
Coccinella venusta Melsheimer, 1847
Neoharmonia venusta (Melsheimer)
Numbers
1 sp. w/ 2 subspecies currently recognized
(2)
Range
N. v. venusta: TX-FL-ME-NE
N. v. ampla: AZ-TX
Season
mostly May-June (BG data)
Food
Psyllids, scales, insect eggs and larvae,
(3) especially beetle larvae
N. v. venusta are "major predators of larvae and pupae of the [Imported] willow leaf beetle Plagiodera versicolora (Laicharteg) in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. This is the first specialized coccinellid-chrysomelid predator-prey assoc. for the New World." (Whitehead and Duffield 1982)
Remarks
Subspecies can be separated by range in most areas, but overlap in eastern Texas.
Print References
Gordon, 1985, especially pp. 834-839, figures 673, 667-668.
(3)
Whitehead, D.R. and R.M. Duffield. 1982. An Unusual Specialized Predator Prey Association (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae, Chrysomelidae): Failure of a Chemical Defense and Possible Practical Application. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 36(1): 96-97.
Internet References
Invasive.org - photos of
N. v. venusta feeding on pine needle scale and leaf beetle eggs.