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Five-spotted Lady Beetle

Hippodamia quinquesignata quinquesignata

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33.0184, -117.011

Field Notes

Description:

Red ladybug with black spots and a very sad looking face pattern. The pronotum has white lining as well as two small spots in the center. The head has white between and underneath the eyes. I'm excited about this one as I've never seen one with markings like this.

Habitat:

Scrub oak in oak forest in riparian area

Notes:

First of this subspecies submitted to BugGuide from California. First of this pattern submitted to BugGuide. "The markings on this one are especially confluent - I admit it is strange, but I went through every illustration in Chapin's Hippodamia monograph and absolutely nothing else has the same elytra pattern with a pronotum lacking a pale margin at the front. It's an unusual variation, but because Chapin worked from preserved specimens, someone found something like it before!" - Abigail M. Parker on BugGuide

Reference Links:

Subspecies Hippodamia quinquesignata quinquesignata - BugGuide.Net

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (9)
ChunXingWong
I think it should be named the Sad-faced Lady Beetle.
CindyBinghamKeiser
I received an interesting reply from my ID inquiry from BugGuide. The ID surprised me since this spotting looked so much different but this is the reply I received: "The markings on this one are especially confluent - I admit it is strange, but I went through every illustration in Chapin's Hippodamia monograph and absolutely nothing else has the same elytra pattern with a pronotum lacking a pale margin at the front. It's an unusual variation, but because Chapin worked from preserved specimens, someone found something like it before!" - Abigail M. Parker
CindyBinghamKeiser
Hi Jeanna, thank you for the suggestion! I thought about that since the markings on the elytra look right but not the pronotum. This one doesn't have the white "cheeks". I'm wondering if this is a cross-breed of two species. Right now the thought is a Hippodamia sp. Hopefully I'll hear from BugGuide soon on this one.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Ladybug Lovers
Mission
Southern California Wildlife
Mission
California Coleoptera
Mission
Beetles!
Mission
National Geographic's Great Nature Project

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Photographed
PublishedApril 20, 2013

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