Coccinella leonina

Coccinella leonina
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Family:	Coccinellidae
Genus:	Coccinella
Species:	C. leonina
Binomial name
Coccinella leonina (Fabricius, 1775)

Coccinella leonina, common name orange-spotted ladybird,^[1] is a species of ladybird native to New Zealand. It is black with 16 orange spots, and is about 5–6 mm long.^[2] It is present from to subalpine habitats down to sea level.^[2] It is a predator which specializes on aphids as an adult and larva, which it hunts in grass/spear grass/tussock.^[2] A very similar and closely related undescribed species occurs only on the Three Kings Islands.^[3]

Native and introduced species

Another species in the same genus found in New Zealand is the introduced eleven-spot ladybird, Coccinella undecimpunctata, which looks quite different from this species. Despite this, it has a similar size and ecological niche. Both species occur in the South Island and south of the North Island, but in the north of the North Island only the introduced species is found. However, it is present on islands in areas where it is absent on the mainland, and may be displaced on the mainland as a result of interspecific competition.^[4]

See also

• Hoangus venustus, another native ladybird

Notes

1. A common name also shared by other species
2. Crowe, A. (2002). Which New Zealand Insect?. Auckland, N.Z.: Penguin. p. 47. ISBN 0-14-100636-6.
3. Watt (1986)
4. Dixon, A.G.F. (2000). Insect Predator-Prey Dynamics: Ladybird Beetles and Biological Control. Cambridge University Press. pp. 194, 196. ISBN 0-521-62203-4. Retrieved 2009-04-23.

References

• Watt, J.C. 1986: Beetles (Coleoptera) of the offshore islands of northern New Zealand. pp. 221–228 in Wright, A.E.; Beever, R.E. (eds.) The offshore islands of northern New Zealand. Information series, (16). Department of Lands and Survey: Wellington, New Zealand. ISSN 0110-1226