Fourteen-drop ladybug
| Fourteen-drop ladybug | ||||||||||||
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Fourteen-drop ladybird ( Calvia quatuordecimguttata ) |
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| Calvia quatuordecimguttata | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The fourteen-drop ladybird or leaf flea ladybird ( Calvia quatuordecimguttata ) is a beetle from the ladybird family (Coccinellidae).
features
The beetles are about 4.5 to 6 millimeters long and have a broad, oval and domed body. Their wings are light brown-red to brown in color and each have seven whitish spots, with four being arranged in pairs on both sides of the wing cover seam . The second pair from the front is bordered by two further points at about the same height, so that a total of six are in a row. The pronotum is also colored brown-red and has a small, whitish spot in each of the rear corners. Both the antennae and the legs are colored brown.
Similar species
- Light ladybird ( Calvia decemguttata )
Occurrence
The beetles are found throughout the Palearctic and North America , but are absent in the far north. They live in both damp and dry places, such as the edges of forests and meadows. They are common locally.
Way of life
The beetles usually overwinter in the litter. Like most ladybird species, both the adults and the larvae of the fourteenth-droplet ladybirds feed on aphids , but also on leaf fleas .
literature
- Harde, Severa: Der Kosmos Käferführer, The Central European Beetles , Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-06959-1 .
- Jiři Zahradnik, Irmgard Jung, Dieter Jung et al .: Beetles of Central and Northwestern Europe. Parey, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-490-27118-1 .
