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Adalia bipunctata
The two-spotted ladybird was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae, its original name was Coccinella bipunctata.[2] Its specific name from the Latin bi- "two", and punctata "spotted".~Wikipedia
It is very common in western and central Europe and North America. It is used as a biological control agent. The two-spotted lady beetle's life cycle starts with eggs that are usually laid in clutches.[1][5] The larvae hatches from the egg by biting a hole in it. The larvae look very different from the adults: they have elongated, grey, soft bodies with six legs but no wings. They are cannibalistic. Larvae go through four larval stages: by eating they grow and at some point they shed their old skin and appear in a new one in which they can grow more. The last larval stage is approximately the size of an adult beetle. Once it has eaten enough, the larvae attach themselves to a substrate and moult into a pupa. Inside the pupa, the adult develops. Finally the adult ecloses from the pupa.~Wikipedia
In some populations, the majority of the beetles are female. In these populations, 80-90% of the offspring of a female are female. The cause of this anomaly is the presence of symbiotic bacteria living within the gametic cells of the female lady beetles. The bacterium is too large to live in the male gametes (sperm), so the bacterium can be transmitted to the next generation only through female gametes. When it ends up in a male, it will die when the male dies. Therefore, it kills most of the male embryos in the newly laid eggs. These dead embryos then serve as food for their sisters when they emerge from their eggs. This trait is associated with a variety of different bacteria (Wolbachia,[6] Rickettsia,[7] Spiroplasma[8]), which are present in between 0 and 20% of females, depending on locality.~Wikipedia
8 Comments
Lovely!
Thank you Emma, this is rare spotting!
great info. I like the fact that the larva bite the egg and make their way out.
Emma, I added this spotting to The Lost Lady Bug Project! Thanks...
Thanks Emma, i'll take a look!
Isabella.Cornell has a Lost Lady Bug Project and you can report this sighting to them. They are interested in knowing if you find a a two spotted one.
http://lostladybug.org/contributors-imag...
Thank you Emma! Yes they are rare as well as the 9 spotted!
We were at my Lacrosse game and this little lady was crawling on my sweater!
These are rare.