Photo Details
July 20, 2005 - Draper City, Salt Lake
County, Utah - ©Nicky Davis
Family Tree
Coleoptera Coccinellidae Harmonia axyridis
Other
The Asian multicolored
lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, is easy to identify from its false
"eyes"-- twin white football-shaped markings behind the head. In color,
the insects range from black to mustard, with zero to many spots. A
common U.S. form is mustard to red and has 16 or more black spots.
This northern, east Asian ladybird was
imported to the SE United States about twenty-five years ago: it
established successfully, extending north into Canada and through the
rest of the USA. It is now the most abundant ladybird to the detriment
of many native species. Despite the American experience, the animal was
also released into Italy and elsewhere in Europe. It has now
established and become common in Germany (2000), Holland (2002) and
Belgium (2002). Numbers in The Netherlands increased greatly in
June-July 2004.
-H. axyridis is a potent
aphid-eater (aphidophage) and thus potentially useful in biological
control of pest species. Unfortunately it also has a very large
prey-range. This voracity allows it to eat all aphids, out-competing
native ladybirds whose populations decline by starvation. Some formerly
common species in Canada are now rare. Furthermore, when it runs out of
aphids, it starts eating other invertebrates - hoverflies, lacewings,
butterflies etc. Thus many other species, many of them beneficial, are
put at risk. This has happened in N. America.
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