''Chilocorus similis'' is a species of red-spotted lady beetles belonging to the family

Coccinellidae Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as they ...

, subfamily Chilocorinae. This beetle is an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Italian species, present in Italian mainland. It preys on

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 ...

living on ''

Euonymus ''Euonymus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the staff vine family, Celastraceae. Common names vary widely among different species and between different English-speaking countries, but include spindle (or spindle tree), burning-bush, strawb ...

'' species. The elytra are brown-black, with two reddish round sposts. It measures about long. This lady beetle was deliberately introduced to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by Marlatt in 1902 to control the

San Jose Scale The San Jose scale (''Quadraspidiotus perniciosus'') is a hemipterous insect in the family Diaspididae. It is an agricultural pest as it causes damage and crop losses to many fruit crops. In 1914, ''Q. perniciosus'' became the first documented c ...

, an early example of biocontrol.

References

External links

Biolib

Fauna Europaea
Coccinellidae Beetles of Europe Endemic fauna of Italy Beetles described in 1790 Taxa named by Pietro Rossi {{Coccinellidae-stub