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Hippodamia convergens
I am curious as to how to tell the difference between the native ladybugs and the introduced ones in the field. I thought the main difference was a more orange color and slightly larger?
Lady Beetles are most easily distinguished by the patterns on the segment behind their head. In the specimen here, a field of black with two converging white lines is indicative of the Convergent Lady Beetles, a native species. The Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle has a black mark that looks like a "W" on a field of white.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/397
Thanks for the tip! greatly appreciated. Is the Hippodamia group specific to North America?