Bug FAQFourteen-spotted Lady Beetle
Propylea quatuordecimpunctata · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Coccinellidae
Also called: 14-spotted Ladybird Beetle
The fourteen-spotted lady beetle is a tiny beetle about 3.5 to 4.5 mm long with 14 black spots on its wing covers and a pale pronotum marked with a few black spots. It lives in many European habitats, eats aphids and other small insects, and is considered a helpful garden predator.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The beetle usually has fourteen almost rectangular black spots on its elytra, though the spots may sometimes merge. Its pronotum is pale yellow or whitish with four to eight black spots, and its antennae and legs are yellow-brown.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure between 3.5 and 4.5 millimetres in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They occur in a wide range of habitats from lowlands to sub-alpine zones, including forests, meadows, fields, gardens and parks.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It is an insect-eating beetle that feeds on aphids, whiteflies, scale insects and the eggs and larvae of some beetles and butterflies.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Females lay about 400 eggs to offset the high mortality of the larvae. Adult beetles can overwinter for two successive winters.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species is native to the Palearctic region up to the Arctic Circle and is common throughout Europe, parts of North Africa, Asia and western Russia.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 28 of 51 states and DC. Most records: New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Jersey.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: introduced in United States; introduced in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Are fourteen-spotted lady beetles beneficial for gardens?
Yes, they hunt aphids and other small plant-harming insects, making them useful garden allies.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Coccinellidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylea_quatuordecimpunctata
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.