Mumutawa (Steelblue Ladybird)

Description:

Mumutawa is the "Maori" name for Ladybird. The Steelblue is a small (length 3-4mm) hemisphere shaped and is dark metallic irridescent blue/green in colour. When viewed from above the wing covers are a complete circle. The steelblue lady bird is an introduced species from Australia in 1899 and 1905 brought into the New Zealand as a control agent against the agricultural pests black scale and blue gum scale on citrus trees

Notes:

There are 30 native New Zealand species of Ladybird but the ones most often seen are the introduced species.