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Taxonomy
Coccinellidae
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The Lost Ladybug Project: "Across North America ladybug species distribution is changing. Over the past twenty years several native ladybugs that were once very common have become extremely rare. During this same time ladybugs from other places have greatly increased both their numbers and range. Some ladybugs are simply found in new places. This is happening very quickly and we don’t know how, or why, or what impact it will have on ladybug diversity or the role that ladybugs play in keeping plant-feeding insect populations low. We're asking you to join us in finding out where all the ladybugs have gone so we can try to prevent more native species from becoming so rare."
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Rights holder/Author | Katja Schulz, Katja Schulz |
Source | No source database. |
Lady Beetles usually live less than two years.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2012, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Coccinellidae/ |
Although officially called lady beetles, members of the family Coccinellidae are more commonly known as ladybugs (American) or ladybirds (Great Britain, Australia, Canada). This is the largest of the cucujoid families with nearly 6,000 described species and about 370 genera worldwide. They are among the most familiar and beloved of insects, and are widely recognized for their role in controlling voracious plant pests such as aphids and scale insects. Not surprisingly, in many cultures coccinellid beetles are considered harbingers of good luck and a bountiful harvest. Even the common name, which dates back to medieval times, is a testament of their sacred status as "beetles of Our Lady" (in reference to the virgin Mary).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Adriano Giorgi, Natalia Vandenberg, Tree of Life web project |
Source | http://tolweb.org/Coccinellidae/9170 |
Female Lady Beetles lay hundreds of eggs, sometimes over 2,000. They usually lay them near aphids or other prey insects, so the newly hatched beetle larvae will have food right away.
Breeding season: Summer
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous
Lady Beetles don't show much parental care. Once the female finds a good place to lay her eggs, she lays them and then leaves.
Parental Investment: no parental involvement
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2012, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Coccinellidae/ |
Lieveheersbeestjes zijn kleine, bolle, kleurige kevers. Zowel de volwassen dieren als de larven jagen op bladluizen. Om deze reden worden ze veel gebruikt in de biologische plaagbestrijding. Tegenover hun vijanden houden de lieveheersbeestjes zich dood, waarbij zij een stinkende vloeistof verspreiden. In Nederland komen zo'n 60 soorten lieveheersbeestjes voor.
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Rights holder/Author | Ecomare |
Source | http://www.ecomare.nl/index.php?id=3728&L=2 |
Coccinellidae and the Cerylonid Series
Molecular evidence supports Coccinellidae as belonging to the Cerylonid Series (Hunt et al., 2007; Robertson et al., 2008) but the closest relative of the family remains unclear. Early morphological studies supported hypotheses that the sister-group was a clade comprising Endomychidae plus Corylophidae (Crowson, 1981; Sasaji, 1971) or one comprising Endomychidae plus Alexiidae (Pakaluk and Ślipiński, 1991). These studies, however, were not based on formal phylogenetic analyses.
Formal phylogenetic studies that provide insights about the closest relatives of Coccinellidae resulted, each, in different answers. In these studies, the following taxa were recovered as close relatives of Coccinellidae: Endomychidae (Tomaszewska, 2000), Anamorphinae (Endomychidae) plus Alexiidae (Hunt et al., 2007), Corylophidae (Tomaszewska, 2005), Leiestinae (Endomychidae) (Robertson et al. 2008, parsimony) and Endomychidae minus Anamorphinae or Corylophidae plus Anamorphinae (Robertson et al. 2008, Bayesian). Since each of these studies addressed different phylogenetic questions, the taxonomic sampling was fairly different, which might account for the noted disparities.
Coccinellidae Subfamilies
Sasaji (1968, 1971) provided the first attempt to address the higher-level phylogenetic relationships of Coccinellidae (see fig. below). Under Sasaji’s classical phylogenetic scheme, three main branches are recognized. At the base is the subfamily Sticholotidinae, considered the most primitive group of coccinellids. On the main branch, one lineage includes the subfamilies Scymninae and Chilocorinae, and other includes Coccidulinae, Coccinellinae and Epilachninae. In the latter group, Coccidulinae was considered the sister group to the coccinelline plus epilachnine branch.
Kovář’s (1996) hypothesis was very similar to Sasaji’s (1968, 1971), differing only in placing Coccidulinae at the base of the scymnine plus chilocorine branch. He also recognized a seventh subfamily, Ortaliinae, comprised of the former Coccidulinae tribe, Noviini, and the former Scymninae tribe, Ortaliini.
In spite of the relevance of these contributions, both Sasaji (1968, 1971) and Kovář’s (1996) studies have some limitations. In both studies the hypotheses were not generated by formal phylogenetic methods, thus none of the clades are supported by synapomorphies. Sasaji’s study did not include any neotropical coccinellids, being mostly restricted to the Japanese fauna. Kovář’s (1996) study was more comprehensive in terms of diversity.
The first formal cladistic analysis was conducted by Yu (1994). His study used adult and larval morphological characters. The partitions (adults vs. larvae) were treated separately, and produced drastically conflicting topologies. The adult-based topology had few points of agreement with previous hypotheses. Yu (1994) recovered all Sticholotidinae at the base, but not as a monophyletic group. As with Sasaji’s (1968) hypothesis, this study supports a clade containing the subfamilies Chilocorinae, Coccidulinae and Scymninae, but none of these subfamilies were recovered as monophyletic. Coccidulinae was recovered as paraphyletic with respect to Ortaliinae, Chilocorinae, and Scymninae. Chilocorinae and Ortaliinae were nested within Scymninae. The sister group relationship between Epilachninae and Coccinellinae was not supported in this study. Epilachninae diverged from the rest of the family at the next highest node, followed by Coccinellinae. A close relationship between Serangiini and Sukunahikonini was the only point of similarity between the adult and larval topologies.
Giorgi et al. (2009) conducted a parsimony analysis using the nuclear ribosomal genes 18S rDNA and 28S rDNA to address the evolution of food preferences in Coccinellidae. As in the previous studies, the subfamily Sticholotidinae was supported as the sister group of the rest of the coccinellids, but only in part. Other Sticholotidinae included in the analysis, were supported as more advanced forms. The resulting topology of this study disagrees with Sasaji’s (1968) classic hypothesis in many points. Unfortunately the relationships between most of the major branches were not strongly supported.
Thus, an accurate definition of the main lineages of coccinellids as well as the relationships between them still remains to be established.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Adriano Giorgi, Natalia Vandenberg, Tree of Life web project |
Source | http://tolweb.org/Coccinellidae/9170 |
Coccinellidae (Lady Beetles, Ladybirds, Lady Bugs)
Lady Beetles are small, round, with convex wing-covers. The head and pronotum are often shiny black with white markings, while the wing-covers are often shiny orange-red with black dots. Some species, however, are predominantly black, or gray with black dots, and may have fine hairs on their bodies. The adults usually feed on aphids, scale insects, and other small insects, while the larvae tend to feed on the same kinds of insects. Adults occasionally appear on flowers with exposed nectaries to feed on nectar. Lady Beetles are considered beneficial insects, although a few species feed on the foliage of crop plants.
- Hilty, J. Editor. 2014. Insect Visitors of Illinois Wildflowers. World Wide Web electronic publication. illinoiswildflowers.info, version (11/2014)
See: Abbreviations for Insect Activities, Abbreviations for Scientific Observers, References for behavioral observations
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright © 2002-2014 by Dr. John Hilty |
Source | http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/flower_insects/files/beetles.htm |
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:6961
Specimens with Sequences:6011
Specimens with Barcodes:5262
Species:373
Species With Barcodes:325
Public Records:2837
Public Species:164
Public BINs:189
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Adriano Giorgi, Natalia Vandenberg, Tree of Life web project |
Source | http://tolweb.org/Coccinellidae/9170 |