Twice Stabbed Lady Beetle – Chilocorous stigmata

Twice Stabbed Lady Beetle

Latin Name: Chilocorus stigma

Common Name: Twice stabbed lady beetle

Appearance: As the name indicates, it has two red spots on its elytron (forewings) and has a black doom-shaped body while a reddish-orange ventral side. Adults are 3-5 mm in length and mostly confused with Chilocorus kuwanae, which has spots roughly rectangular in shape situated at the middle or behind the middle of each elytron.

Host Plants or Food: Mealybugs, aphids, scale insects, and other soft-bodied insects. 

Territory: It is native to USA and Canada and found mostly in North America, western states of Oregon, Washington, and California, excluding the west coast.

Mode of Damage: Beneficial Garden Insect

Habits and Life History:

It is an arboreal insect and prey on other insects, especially scales, making it a garden-friendly insect.

Twice stabbed lady beetle spends winter in leaf litter and becomes active from march till November. They start mating in April and lay eggs in the loose barks or cracks of the trees infested with scales or other soft-bodied insects.

They pass through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. They produce many generations per year.

Eggs are yellowish with an oblong shape and 1mm in length.

The larvae are elongated and look like tiny alligators with blackish or grey bodies and many spines.

The pupae are blackish and less elongated than larvae. Both adults and larvae feed on the scales.