Nine-spotted Lady Beetle

The nine-spotted ladybug can be identified by the four black spots on each of its elytra, a single spot split between the elytra, and a black suture between the elytra. Its pronotum is black, with two connected white marks at the front of its head. They range from 4.7 to 7.0 millimeters (0.19-0.28 inches) long and the elytra can range from yellow to orange and spotted or spotless. Males can be distinguished by a spot on their anterior coxae and stripe on the femora.

The nine-spotted ladybeetles are nomadic and can thrive in a great variety of habitats across the continent, based on factors such as aphid or prey density, mate distribution, and seasonal availability of herbaceous material to facilitate breeding. Within agricultural landscapes, Coccinella novemnotata exist in cotton, alfalfa, corn, and soybean fields as a candidate for biological control of aphids. In addition, they can be found in suburban parks and gardens. In more natural settings, they are found in open areas with shrubbery and small trees (deciduous or coniferous), meadows, prairie grassland, and riparian zones.

Coccinella novemnotata is a holometabolous bivoltine species. Diapauses are dependent on photoperiod length, temperature, and prey availability. Adults enter diapause through the summer and winter and emerge in the autumn and early spring, respectively. They reproduce in early spring and oviposit in early autumn. Adult females determine the oviposition sites and eggs are laid in clutches attached to thin branches, leaves, or other surrounding material. The C9 holometabolous life cycle begins at an egg, larvae (4 instars), prepupa, pupa, and adult stages. C. novemnotata and other beetles in the subfamily Coccinellinae lack a covering during the pupal stage; instead, the larval skin is shed off. The two most significant sources of mortality are interspecific predation and cannibalism. Larvae are documented to prey on smaller, earlier instar larvae. Adults consume eggs, pupae, and molting individuals which are significantly more vulnerable during these sessile states. In times of general prey scarcity, intraguild predation is shown to increase as eggs are better sources of nutrients crucial for larval development compared to their main diet of aphids. Some studies show evidence that C. novemnotata suffers from higher rates of egg predation by other species like the Coccinella septempunctata and cannibalism of its own eggs.