A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Harmonia axyridis
Harmonia axyridis is a large coccinellid beetle. Its colour ranges from yellow-orange to black, and the number of spots between none and 22. It is native to eastern Asia, but has been introduced to North America and Europe to control aphids and scale insects. It is now common, well known, and spreading in those regions, and has also established in South Africa and widely across South America. It is commonly known as the harlequin ladybird (because it occurs in numerous colour forms). It is also known in North America as the multicolored Asian lady beetle, and (because it invades homes in October in preparation for overwintering) as Halloween lady beetle.[1][2] In Japan, it is not generally distinguished from the seven-spot ladybird which is also common there. When the species first arrived in the UK, it was labelled in jest as "the many-named ladybird", because among the names listed were: multivariate, southern, Japanese, and pumpkin ladybird
Some type of ladybug
Spotted on Sep 9, 2013
Submitted on Sep 9, 2013
4 Comments
:)
You're welcome. I know what you mean about wind and critter not cooperating. I've taken over 2 dozen images of some critters and only ended up with 1 or 2 usable ones. Although part of the problem is relying on a mid-grade smart phone as a camera. :/ I'm glad the link helped. Happy spotting.
Thanks, k.andrews6! I had trouble getting an good shot because the wind kicked up and the critter kept moving out of the frame. Ended up holding the stalk of the plant and taking the shot with my other hand. Based on your link, it looks like a perfect match. Thanks!
From the given angle it looks like a Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (Harmonia axyridis), also called 15 Spotted Ladybug. A dorsal view would be very helpful if you have one. Check the link for some images.
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&a...