Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata
Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Coleoptera |
Family: | Coccinellidae |
Genus: | Tytthaspis |
Species: | T. sedecimpunctata
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Binomial name | |
Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata |
Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata is a species of beetle in the family Coccinellidae. Its common English name is the sixteen-spot ladybird. It is found in the Palearctic - Europe, North Africa, European Russia, the Caucasus, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Transcaucasia, Northern Kazakhstan, Western Asia and Northwest China.[2][3] It is an inhabitant of the grass layer occurring on dunes, inland dunes, sandy shores and bodden, in Eurasian steppe or on wastelands and dry meadows and occasionally in marshy meadows.[4] It is recorded as feeding on aphids but also on Pucciniales and powdery mildew, on the pollen on Gramineae, Compositae, and Convolvulaceae, and also on mites and thrips (Thysanoptera) [5][6]
The 16-spot frequently forms very large aggregations on tree trunks, fence posts, logs and so on during winter.[7] It is a small ladybird of around 2-3mm. It is usually a cream or beige colour, although darker forms do occur. It has a distinctive dark line on the middle of its elytra, and its spots are often fused, with three fused spots often forming a line on either side of the ladybird.
References
[edit]- ^ Fauna Svecica sistens animalia Sveciæ Regni: mammalia, aves, amphibia, pisces, insecta, vermes. Distributa per classes & ordines, genera & species, cum differentiis specierum, synonymis auctorum, nominibus incolarum, locis natalium, descriptionibus insectorum. Editio altera, auctior. 578 pp. Laurentii Salvii (Stockholm)
- ^ N. B. Nikitsky and А. S. Ukrainsky , 2016 The Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) of Moscow Province ISSN 0013-8738, Entomological Review, 2016, Vol. 96, No. 6, pp. 710–735 ISSN 0013-8738 online pdf
- ^ Fauna Europaea
- ^ Koch, K., Die Käfer Mitteleuropas, Ökologie. Vol. 2 (Goecke und Evers Verlag, Krefeld, 1989).
- ^ Turian, G., “Coccinelles micromycétophages (Col.), Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 42 (1/2), 52–57 (1969)
- ^ Ricci, C., Food Strategy of Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata in Different Habitats, in Ecology of Aphidophaga, Ed. by Hodek, I. (Academia; Dordrecht: Dr. W. Junk, Prague, 1986), pp. 311–316. 31
- ^ "Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata". UK Beetle recording. Retrieved 14 November 2018.