Coccinella
Seven -spot ladybird ( Coccinella septempunctata )
Coccinella is a genus of the family of Ladybug ( Coccinellidae ). The most common ladybird Coccinella septempunctata this genus is, the seven-spot ladybird.
Features
The beetles of the genus have a body length of about 2 to 8 millimeters. Often the color is red with black dots and a black pronotum with white spots, legs and rest of the body parts are black.
Occurrence
Most beetles of the genus are widespread Palaearctic and come in Asia, on the Indian subcontinent, and in Europe. The Nearctic species are limited to Canada and the northern United States. Many species are very common, but some are, for example, in North America and Europe by invasive species such as the system used for aphid control Asian ladybug Harmonia axyridis pushed back.
Way of life
The beetles of the genus overwinter in large groups (aggregation called ), this consisting of several hundreds of beetles, but many die in the process viruses and fungi, etc. All species and their larvae are predators and hunt aphids.
System
We distinguish several sub- genres, including Coccinella in the narrow sense, Chelonitis and spilota.
European Species:
- Ant Seven -spot ladybird ( Coccinella ( Coccinella ) magnifica) Redtenbacher, 1843
- Elfpunkt ladybug ( Coccinella ( spilota ) undecimpunctata ) Linnaeus, 1758
- Five -spot ladybird ( Coccinella ( Coccinella ) quinquepunctata ) Linnaeus, 1758
- Heather Ladybird ( Coccinella ( Coccinella ) hieroglyphica ) Linnaeus, 1758
- Seven -spot ladybird ( Coccinella ( Coccinella ) septempunctata ) Linnaeus, 1758
- Coccinella ( Coccinella ) algerica Kovar, 1977
- Coccinella ( Coccinella ) genistae Wollaston, 1854
- Coccinella ( spilota ) miranda Wollaston, 1864
- Coccinella ( Coccinella ) saucerottei Mulsant, 1850
- Coccinella ( Coccinella ) trifasciata Linnaeus, 1758
- Coccinella ( Chelonitis ) venusta (Weise, 1879)
Non-European types (selection):
- Coccinella alta W. J. Brown, 1962 ( Canada )
- Coccinella californica Mannerheim, 1843 (North America)
- Coccinella fulgida Watson, 1954 (Canada, Alaska and Northeast Asia )
- Coccinella johnsoni Casey, 1908 ( North America )
- Coccinella lama Kapur, 1963 ( India, Tibet)
- Coccinella leonina Linnaeus, 1758 (New Zealand)
- Coccinella luteopicta ( Mulsant, 1866) (India, Nepal, Tibet, China)
- Coccinella magnopunctata Rybakov, 1889 (India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Mongolia)
- Coccinella marussii Kapur, 1973 ( India, Karakoram Mountains)
- Coccinella monticola Mulsant, 1850 ( North America )
- Coccinella nepalensis Iablokoff - Khnzorian, 1982 ( Nepal)
- Coccinella nigrovittata Kapur, 1963 ( India, Tibet, China, Mongolia, Russia)
- Coccinella novemnotata autumn, 1793 (North America)
- Coccinella prolongata Crotch, 1873 (North America)
- Coccinella transversalis Fabricius, 1781 (India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand)
- Coccinella transversoguttata Faldermann 1835 (India, China, Japan, Siberia, Canada)
Similar Species
Many species from other genera of the ladybird Coccinella see the species very similar, especially the species of the other genera of the subfamily Coccinellinae. Among the naturalized in Europe and the U.S. Asian ladybug is ( Harmonia axyridis ). The Asian ladybug has a number of color variants that are most widespread variants of the laity often confused with Coccinella septempunctata. The two- spot ladybird Adalia in the genus differs from the seven-spot ladybug on first sight only by the number of points and is often mistaken for a variant. Because of their similar lifestyle of the two -spot ladybird and the seven-spot ladybird can often be found on the same plant in the hunt for aphids. Adalia belongs to the tribe Coccinella Coccinellini. Psyllobora from the tribe Psylloborini also has some of the Coccinella species similar representative. However, these do not feed on aphids, but by the powdery mildew, a fungal hose.