#Gioiapura coccinella free

Seven-spotted lady beetle Seven-spotted ladybug'.

^ ' Coccinella septempunctata (Linnaeus,1758:365).

It has since spread by natural dispersion to New York and Connecticut and to Oklahoma, Georgia and Delaware by recolonization. The first record of successful establishment (after numerous failed attempts to introduce the species) in the United States was in 1973. It can also be found in North America (the species was introduced to the United States) and tropical Africa. It can be found in Europe, North Africa, Australia, Cyprus, European Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Russian Far East, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, the Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Middle Asia, Western Asia, Middle East, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, North and South Korea, Pakistan, Nepal, North India, Japan, Sri Lanka and southeast Asia.

#Gioiapura coccinella free

The seven-spot ladybird synthesizes the toxic alkaloids, N-oxide coccinelline and its free base precoccinelline depending on sex and diet, the spot size and coloration can provide some indication of how toxic the individual insect is to potential predators. A threatened ladybird may both play dead and secrete the unappetising substance to protect itself. The species can secrete a fluid from joints in their legs which gives them a foul taste. Their distinctive spots and attractive colours apparently make them unappealing to predators. Anatomy and physiology Īn adult seven-spot ladybird may reach a body length of 7.6–12.7 mm (0.3–0.5 in). The species has undergone significant declines on the island of Malta, yet it is unclear whether this decline has occurred at the same rate elsewhere. septempunctata took place in the drought summer of 1976 in the UK. Conversely, in North America, this species has outcompeted many native species, including other Coccinella.

In the United Kingdom, there are fears that the seven-spot ladybird is being outcompeted for food by the harlequin ladybird. Adults overwinter in ground litter in parks, gardens and forest edges and under tree bark and rocks. There are one or two generations per year. septempunctata is mainly aphidophagous it also feeds on Thysanoptera, Aleyrodidae, on the larvae of Psyllidae and Cicadellidae, and on eggs and larvae of some beetles and butterflies. It has been designated the official state insect of five different states ( Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Tennessee).Īlthough C. septempunctata has been repeatedly introduced to North America as a biological control agent to reduce aphid numbers, and is now established in North America. Both the adults and the larvae are voracious predators of aphids, and because of this, C. and including, amongst other biotopes, meadows, fields, Pontic–Caspian steppe, parkland, gardens, Western European broadleaf forests and mixed forests. septempunctata has a broad ecological range, generally living where there are aphids for it to eat.