Adalia bipunctata

Two-spotted lady beetle
Conservation status
Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Clade:	Pancrustacea
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Family:	Coccinellidae
Genus:	Adalia
Species:	A. bipunctata
Binomial name
Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Coccinella bipunctata Linnaeus, 1758 Coccinella pantherina Linnaeus, 1758 Coccinella sexpustulata Linnaeus, 1758 Coccinella quadrimaculata Scopoli, 1763 Coccinella annulata Voet, 1766 Coccinella cincta O.F. Müller, 1776 Coccinella octoguttata Sulzer, 1776 Coccinella unifasciata Fabricius, 1777 Coccinella tripunctata Roemer, 1789 Coccinella tripustulata Gmelin, 1790 Coccinella hastata Olivier, 1791 Coccinella dispar Schneider, 1792 Coccinella arctica Thunberg, 1795 Coccinella varia Schrank, 1798 Coccinella hyperborea Paykull, 1799 Coccinella perforata Marsham, 1802 Coccinella septempustulata Marsham, 1802 Coccinella bisquadripustulata Haworth, 1812 Coccinella bistriverrucata Haworth, 1812 Coccinella quadripunctata Donovan, 1813 Coccinella bioculata Say, 1824 Coccinella humeralis Say, 1824 Coccinella fasciatopunctata Faldermann, 1835 Coccinella disjuncta Randall, 1838 Adalia ophthalmica Mulsant, 1850 Adalia stictica Mulsant, 1850 Coccinella melanopleura Le Conte, 1859 Adalia ludovicae Mulsant, 1866 Adalia revelierii Mulsant, 1866 Coccinella annectens Crotch, 1873 Adalia concolor Wimmel, 1894 Adalia ornatella Casey, 1899 Adalia ovipennis Casey, 1899 Adalia transversalis Casey, 1899 Adalia bipunctata var. similata Gabriel, 1905 Adalia coloradensis Casey, 1908 Arrowella porteri Brèthes, 1925

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Adalia bipunctata, the two-spot ladybird, two-spotted ladybug or two-spotted lady beetle, is a carnivorous beetle of the family Coccinellidae that is found throughout the holarctic region. It is very common in western and central Europe. It is also native to North America, but its population has declined sharply in many states and provinces. It is commonly introduced and imported as a biological control agent.

Taxonomy

The two-spotted ladybird was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae; its original name was Coccinella bipunctata. Its specific name comes from the Latin bi- ("two") and punctata ("spotted").

Description

Adalia bipunctata is a small coccinellid that can feature any one of a large selection of red and black forms. Some forms are similar to Mulsantina picta, but the two white spots on the head of Adalia, in contrast with a large white region or more than two spots, readily distinguish it. Additionally, Adalia is entirely black on the ventral surface with black legs, which helps rule out any other options.^{[citation needed]}

The two-spotted ladybird is highly variable in many parts of its native range. The most familiar form, bipunctata (forma typica), has two black spots on a red base and is common throughout its native range. A melanistic form that is black with four or six red spots is uncommon, but not rare, while the truly melanistic form is exceedingly rare. In North America, the species shows the most variation, with several forms that do not occur elsewhere, including a spotless form, a four-banded form, a form with nine to twelve spots, and a "cross-hatched" form. In addition, there are intermediate forms such as form annulata, but they occur rarely.^{[failed verification]}

Prey

Two-spotted lady beetles feed on aphids and other small insects. However, the sterile soldiers within colonies of aphids such as the gall-forming Pemphigus spyrothecae can attempt to protect the aphid colony by fighting this species.^{[citation needed]}

Life cycle

The two-spotted lady beetle's life cycle starts with eggs that are usually laid in clutches. The larva hatches from the egg by biting a hole in it. The larva looks very different from an adult; it has an elongated, grey, soft body with six legs but no wings. The larvae are cannibalistic. A larva goes through four larval stages. As it feeds and grows, it periodically sheds its old skin, allowing further growth. In its last larval stage, the larva is approximately the size of an adult beetle. Once it has eaten enough, the larva attaches itself to a substrate and moults into a pupa. Inside the pupa, the adult develops. Finally, the adult ecloses from the pupa.^{[citation needed]}

• 
  Life cycle of Adalia bipunctata. Illustration from Insects, Their Way and Means of Living by R. E. Snodgrass.
• 
  Spotted lady beetles mating
• 
  Larva
• 
  Pupa
• 
  The adult beetle
• 
  Newborns

Sex ratio anomalies

As a biological control agent

A. bipunctata is used as a localised biological control agent against aphids in, for example, greenhouses. The two-spotted lady beetle was introduced into Australia specifically as a biological control agent.

Gallery

• 
  A. bipunctata var. annulata
• 
  A. bipunctata var. bipunctata
• 
  A. bipunctata var. fasciatopunctata
• 
  A. bipunctata var. quadrimaculata
• 
  A. bipunctata var. sexpustulata

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adalia bipunctata.