Hippodamia tredecimpunctata

{{short description|Species of beetle}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = Thirteen-spotted lady beetle

| image = Ladybug13.jpg

| taxon = Hippodamia tredecimpunctata

| authority = Linnaeus, 1758

}}

{{Wikispecies|Hippodamia tredecimpunctata|Thirteen-spotted lady beetle}}

Hippodamia tredecimpunctata, commonly known as the thirteen-spot ladybeetle, is a species of lady beetle.

Description

Adult H. tredecimpunctata have domed backs, mainly oval, often shiny with short legs and antennae. They have two wing covers. They are usually red to orange in color. This species has thirteen dark or black spots. The larvae are slightly flattened and covered with miniature spines. Very small eggs are laid in groups of 10–50 on the undersides of leaves.

Range

The species is distributed throughout much the northern hemisphere-Europe, North Africa, European Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Russian Far East, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Middle Asia, Western Asia, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, North America.N. B. Nikitsky and А. S. Ukrainsky, 2016 The Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) of Moscow Province ISSN 0013-8738, Entomological Review, 2016, Vol. 96, No. 6, pp. 710–735 ISSN 0013-8738 [https://www.zin.ru/animalia/coleoptera/pdf/nikitsky_ukrainsky_2016_coccinellidae_of_moscow_province.pdf online pdf ]Fauna Europaea In North America, it can be found in Canada and the northern United States. The relative abundance of this species has decreased in many regions (midwestern US, Maine, Quebec, and New Brunswick) following the introduction of the non-native ladybeetle Coccinella septempunctata. On the other hand, H. tredecimpunctata appears to coexist with non-native ladybeetles in Manitoba and Ontario.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbucommons.ca/science/biology/images/uploads/Foundation_Lady_Beetles2009.pdf|title=Changes in the status and geographic ranges of Canadian Lady Beetles (Coccinellinae) and the selection of candidates for risk assessment. Part 1. Foundation Report|accessdate=January 26, 2016|archive-date=February 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201193955/http://www.cbucommons.ca/science/biology/images/uploads/Foundation_Lady_Beetles2009.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Habitat

It is a stenotypic (limited habitat) species most associated with wet meadows, lakesides, flood plains and river deltas, marshes, and in marshes and marshy alder thickets, carr and bodden on Carex, Sparganium, Phragmites, and on SalixKoch, K., Die Käfer Mitteleuropas, Ökologie. Vol. 2 (Goecke und Evers Verlag, Krefeld, 1989).lablokoff-Khnzorian, S. M. 1982. Les Coccinelles Coleopteres- Coccinellidae Tribu Coccinellini des regions Palearctique et Orientale''. Boubee. Paris. 568 pp.

Biology

It feeds on Aphis farinosa and occurs on grasses and sedges associated with Sipha glyceriae and on aphids associated with Gramineae, Umbelliferae, and some other plants.Sem’yanov, V.P.,1965 Fauna and Biotopic Distribution of Coccinellids (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) of Leningrad Province, Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie 44 (2), 315–323 (1965). It also feeds on Erysiphales on reeds, before the emergence of aphids.Savoiskaya, G.I., Coccinellid Larvae (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) of the Fauna of the USSR (Nauka, Leningrad Branch, Leningrad, 1983) (Keys to the Fauna of the USSR, Published by the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, No. 137) [in Russian]. It has also found on cane, rotten hay, detritus, and under peeled-off bark.

Image:Hippodamia_tredecimpunctata_larva.jpg|Larva

Image:Hippodamia_tredecimpunctata_02.jpg|Adult

References