The fourteen-spotted ladybug is a small yellow-and-black beetle from Europe and Asia that has settled in eastern North America. It was first found near Quebec City in 1968, and the first U.S. population turned up in Vermont in 1984. It is still spreading, and its pattern varies a lot—well over 100 color forms have been described.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 1/8–3/16 in (3.5–4.5 mm) long. The background is cream, yellow, or light orange—never red—with usually 14 squarish black spots that often merge, sometimes into an anchor shape down the middle. Some are mostly black with 12 pale spots. The shield behind the head is pale with 4–8 black spots.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Meadows
- Gardens and parks
- Woodland edges
- Range
- Native across Europe and northern Asia, east to Korea and Japan. Introduced in North America, where it occurs from southeastern Canada through the northeastern U.S. to the Great Lakes region. Beetles released in the U.S. to fight crop aphids are not thought to have founded today's populations; the beetle seems to have spread on its own from the St. Lawrence Valley in Quebec.
- Preferred conditions
- Lives on grasses, low plants, shrubs, and trees, and also turns up in leaf litter, moss, compost, and straw.
Behavior
- Diet
- Mainly aphids, plus whiteflies, scale insects, and the eggs and larvae of some beetles and butterflies.
- Overwintering
- Spends the winter as an adult.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- A female can lay about 400 eggs, which helps make up for high losses among the larvae.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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