''Chilocorus bipustulatus'', the heather ladybird, is a

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

species belonging to the family

Coccinellidae Coccinellidae () is a widespread family (biology), family of small beetles. They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in the United Kingdom; "lady" refers to Mary, mother of Jesus, mother Mary. Entomologists use the ...

, subfamily

Chilocorinae The Chilocorinae are a subfamily of ladybugs in the family Coccinellidae.Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The ...

,Fauna Europaea
/ref> (Europe, North Africa, Asia north of the Himalayan foothills, and northern and central Arabian Peninsula), and has been introduced to tropical

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. The elytra of this small beetle are a shiny brown with two reddish-orange spots on each

elytron An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes ...

(hence the Latin word ', meaning two-blistered). Sometime three spots run in an horizontal line and join into two larger stains. The mature larva is about long. Wintering occurs as an adult. The adults grow up to long and can be encountered from May through October. In Europe it occurs in fruit gardens, pine forests, and stone quarries. In Poland it was found on grasses, low vegetation and bushes, on heath lands, under flakes of bark on pines and fruit trees, occasionally in leaf litter and in mossBurakowski, B., Mroczkowski, M., and Stefańska, J.,'' Katalog Fauny Polski.'' Szęść XXIII, Chrząszcze– Coleoptera. Tom 13. Cucujoidea, część Heather ladybirds feed on

aphids Aphids are small sap-sucking insects in the Taxonomic rank, family Aphididae. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white Eriosomatinae, woolly ...

and

scale insects Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than the ...

(mainly belonging to the family

Coccidae Coccidae, from Ancient Greek (''kókkos''), meaning "kernel" or "Kermes (insect), Kermes", are a family of scale insects belonging to the superfamily Scale insect, Coccoidea. They are commonly known as soft scales, wax scales or tortoise scales ...

and

Diaspididae Diaspididae is the largest family of scale insects with over 2650 described species in around 400 genera. As with all scale insects, the female produces a waxy protective scale beneath which it feeds on its host plant. Diaspidid scales are far mo ...

) and is often introduced as a

biological control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or o ...

in cases of infestation.Commercially used biological control agents
/ref>

References

External links

Invertebrate Ireland On Line

Bugguide

Coccinellidae Beetles of Europe Beetles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Coccinellidae-stub