What Kind of Lady Are You?

These are some of my collections on ladybird species that I would like to share:

Menochilus sexmaculatus (Zig-zag ladybird)

(a) (b)

This ladybird is very common in lowland areas. It can be found in Indonesia, India, and Thailand. To date, this sepcies can also be found in South American Continent (Chile, Peru) (Guillermo, 2011). In Malaysia, it feeds on a wide variety of aphids, psyllids, and whiteflies. However, I have never seen it devours scale-insects and mealybugs, but probably it does. It can be found almost everywhere, in grassy areas, paddy fields, vegetable gardens, and orchards. From my experience, if you ever come across this species anywhere, just look at the marks on its pronotum ('the neck'). The marks are very vivid. But becareful not to depend on the spots on the wings because some members are spotless (b) or the spots can be merge. Basically, if you want to catch this species, just look on the chili plants, maize or eggplants, or other vegetable leaves etc.. The tip is, if you see ants coming up and down the plants, probably the food is there and try to check under the leaves. Who knows you might ended up finding them. Happy hunting!

Coccinella transversalis (Transverse ladybird)

(a) Adult (b) Pupa

(c) Larva

This ladybird is also one of the common species that can be found in lowland areas. Another name of the species is Coccinella arcuata. The ladybird is bigger than M.sexmaculatus. You can find this species in vegetable gardens, and grassy areas. From my experience, the easiest place to look for this ladybird is on goosegrass/rumput sambau (Eleusine indica) with red ragi aphid (Hysteroneura setariae). In fact, data from my previous research on ladybird conservation showed that the ladybird was as abundant as M.sexmaculatus in the goosegrass area. So, if you see this ladybird, just look at the mark on the 'neck' (pronotum). The pronotum is dark almost entirely with one red spot on the edge of each side of the pronotum. You can also see the markings on the wings but its hard for me since they are almost similar to that of Menochilus sexmaculatus. Good luck finding!

Coelophora inequalis (Variable ladybirds)

(a) Male (b) Female

(c) Female form spotless

This is another common ladybird species that can be easily found in our backyard. C.inequalis feeds on a wide variety of aphids, from my observation, and sometimes on whiteflies. They also probably devours spider mites, psyllids, scale-insects and mealybugs. From my observation in the field, the ladybird exhibits two types of female forms : (b) & (c) while (a) represents the male. The (b) form female can be easily seen around however, the (c) form is quite rare. Do not confuse the (c) form with Chilocorus politus which I will describe later on. From my experience, when the zig-zag ladybird numbers are abundant, C.inequalis may also be around as well. I am not sure about this but it is true. So, if u are looking for the zig-zag ladybird (M.sexmaculatus), dont forget about this buddy ok. Happy hunting!