A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Ladybug beetles are generally considered agriculturally beneficial, but the ladybugs in the Coccinellid subfamily Epilachninae are phytophagous and are major plant feeding pest species which can cause severe economic losses to cucurbitaceous and solanaceous crops. This tiny (3-4 mm), fuzzy black Ladybug has an orange head, antennae, legs and underside (see 5th picture). There is an orange spot on each side of the pronotum. It is covered in a white pubescence. It was also busy feeding on a leaf. In the 6th picture, the feeding marks are clearly visible. I have previously reported another Phytophagous species (Epilachna mexicana) from Veracruz State (http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/195...). See also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24617....
Forest, Chorreadero Park, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico.
This little Coccinellid looks somewhat like the species Azya scutata, which is also small, black and pubescent. However, it is not in the phytophagous Subfamily Epilachninae and I do not know if it is also a phytophagous species. http://www.coccinellidae.cl/paginasWebPa... http://www.coccinellidae.cl/paginasWebTr...
Spotted on Aug 22, 2015
Submitted on Mar 4, 2016
3 Comments
This one looks so much like some of ours (and some were exported for pest control) 7 pages here http://www.ento.csiro.au/biology/ladybir...
Thanks Mark :)
Well done !!