Ladybug larvae

Description:

Black and yellow larvae of a Ladybird.

Habitat:

Underside of Sycamore leaf. This species is found in the western US, down into Mexico.

Notes:

"I feel like I should add something about how I could tell this from a Chilocorus larva. It's all in the pronotum. Chilocorus spp. have five long scoli (branched spines) on each side. Axion has a larger number of short to medium-length scoli. Usually the medium-length ones are at the rear of the pronotum and the shorter ones towards the front; you can't see the rear scoli very well here because of the angle, but the short ones are clearly visible. (The pattern of the two Axion spp. in North America is also quite distinctive, so that also helped with the identification.)" - Abigail Parker