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Pied Lady Bug

Hyperaspidius sp.

Description:

A tiny 1 mm spot that turned out to be a beetle with black and tan striped elytra. Ladybug, Family Coccinellidae. http://bugguide.net/node/view/159803/bgi...

Habitat:

Walking on my arm after hiking through heavy undergrowth. Chorreadero Park, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapashttp://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/1379596003/fullscreen

Notes:

This tiny Ladybug has turned out to be a well-known and studied species due to it's importance as a biological control agent and predator of scale insects, especially the scale pest of Nopal cactus, a widely eaten species in Mexico. For pictures see: http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/coleopt/Hyp... and http://bugguide.net/node/view/338041/bgi.... For its biology see: http://dugesiana.cucba.udg.mx/dugesiana_.... For studies on it's parasitoid species see: https://www.academia.edu/4472810/DINÁMIC.... See the scale of the Nopal (Opuntia) and the work of Nacho Garcia: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/137....

2 Species ID Suggestions

Pied ladybeetles
Hyperaspidius sp.


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4 Comments

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 6 years ago

Thank you Noveira. Do you have a link for Hyperaspidius?

Noveira_Starsong
Noveira_Starsong 7 years ago

This is a Hyperaspidius species rather than Hyperaspis trifurcata. The marking pattern is reversed, forming a W marking rather than an M, and the beetle is much narrower in shape. The very wide head is a trademark of Hyperaspidius, while Hyperaspis have a much smaller head.

Hyperaspidius are very poorly known and finding them is a great occasion. Great spot.

Nacho Garcia
Nacho Garcia 9 years ago

Lauren, gran informacion que nos has dejado aqui!!

Magnificas fotografias!

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 9 years ago

Wow Nacho! Very cool ID. Thank you!

LaurenZarate
Spotted by
LaurenZarate

Chiapas, Mexico

Spotted on Jan 21, 2015
Submitted on Feb 11, 2015

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