Six-spotted Zigzag Ladybird

Description:

When I saw this Ladybird this morning, I was sure I had spotted a Variable Ladybird - Coelophora inaequalis, Fabricious, 1775. It was only when I looked at my photos on my laptop that I noticed the pattern on the pronotum. I new I had seen it before and checked through my picture collection. Then I saw that what I had recognised was the marking on the pronotum of Cheilomenes sexmaculata. Now I had a problem to solve. To the best of my knowledge, I had never seen a Variable Ladybird with any markings which matched those of another species. I thought that such a thing might be possible, but I didn't recall ever seeing it. So, I assumed I was in for a long, tiring search for some information I might never find. But, I was lucky this time. Wikipedia says "Although sometimes known by the common name of six-spotted zigzag ladybird, this is misleading as there are several colour morphs". So, I think I can safely assume that this ladybird is one of these morphs. That appears to be more likely than it being Coelophora inaequalis with a copy of the pronotum of C. sexmaculata. I am not completely sure, but I will go with this ladybird being a C. sexmaculata (morph).

Habitat:

This Ladybird was spotted in our backyard vegetable plot.