Lady beetles (Coccinellidae)


There are 64 genera and 364 species of Coccinellidae described from Australia (Australian Faunal Directory, 2025)

A guide to the beetles of Australia by G. Hangay & P. Zborowski (CSIRO Publishing, 2010) lists the family's characteristics:

  • body broadly ovate, highly convex, usually glabrous but some finely pubescent, 1-7 mm in length
  • yellow to black, often bicoloured or spotted, some with metallic shine
  • head deflexed, concealed from above by prothorax
  • antennae short, usually 11-segmented, including a 3-segmented club
  • tarsal formula [number of tarsal segments on front, middle and hind legs] 4-4-4, but appears to be 3-3-3 as the third segment is minute and hidden

Adults and larvae of most species are predators of aphids, mealybugs, scales or other small insects and mites. Exceptions are Epilachna species, which are herbivorous on Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae, and Illeis galbula which feeds on powdery mildews (Australian beetles, Vol. 1, eds. J.F. Lawrence & A. Slipinski, CSIRO Publishing, 2013)


Lady beetles (Coccinellidae)

Announcements

23 Apr 2025

We are super proud to welcome Edgar McNamara @edgarmcnamara to the team!Edgar joins NatureMapr as Junior Platform Engineer and will play a critical role in supporting the platform and our valued custo...


Continue reading

Platform wide attribute changes

New Feature: Moderator Quick Responses!

New priority species lists in the ACT

NatureMapr now receives more records in NSW than ACT

Discussion

DiBickers wrote:
just now
Happy to help @TimL & your photos continue to amaze me!!💚

Coccinellidae (Family)
TimL wrote:
1 hr ago
@DiBickers Whew! I've got the easy part of this deal: Point the camera and press the button. Thanks for all of your hard work in identifying these critters Di.

Coccinellidae (Family)
DiBickers wrote:
1 hr ago
@MichaelMulvaney happy to help💚

Coccinellidae (Family)
1 hr ago
Thanks Di

Coccinellidae (Family)
DiBickers wrote:
2 hrs ago
I’ve setup a separate taxon (to be classified) for these ones. Without being too long-winded, there are many Coccinellidae larvae (across several Subfamilies) which have these long waxy filaments, however, because they have not been raised from larva to the adult beetle they cannot be identified accurately.
Cryptolaemus montrouzieri has become a familiar taxon where many larvae are often misidentified for this reason.
These larvae are distinctly different to Cryptolaemus montrouzieri as the lateral waxy filaments are much longer and they also have an obvious “naked” back.
There has now been a larva successfully raised to adulthood which has the Entomologists excited as they were finally able to link that particular specimen to Telsimia (Genus).
Given that it is known these waxy larvae are across multiple Subfamilies I will group them together under “Coccinellidae CNM 01 (Unidentified Waxy Larvae)” until further information comes to light😊

Coccinellidae (Family)
812,786 sightings of 22,136 species from 13,875 members
CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.