Bug FAQOrange-spotted Ladybird Beetle
Coccinella leonina · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Coccinellidae
The orange-spotted ladybird is a small beetle about 4.5 to 5.5 mm long and is black with sixteen orange spots, including two on the pronotum and fourteen on the elytra. It is native to New Zealand and lives in many open habitats such as tussock grasslands, low vegetation, native bush, pastures and crops. Both adults and larvae feed on aphids, helping control pests like cowpea, plum, cabbage and woolly apple aphids.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
It is black with sixteen orange spots to two squarish spots on the pronotum and fourteen larger spots on the wing covers.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Its length is usually between 4.5 and 5.5 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It occurs in a range of habitats, from tussock grasslands and low vegetation to native bush, pastures and cultivated fields.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults and larvae eat aphids, including species that attack crops such as cowpea, plum, cabbage and apple.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
These orange markings help tell it apart from larvae of the eleven-spotted and two-spotted ladybirds, which are also common in New Zealand.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species is native to New Zealand.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
The larval orange head and thorax markings distinguish it from the similar larvae of Coccinella undecimpunctata and Adalia bipunctata.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
What does the orange-spotted ladybird look like?
It is a small black beetle about 5 mm long with sixteen orange spots to two on the pronotum and fourteen on the wing covers.
Source: Wikipedia
Where can I find orange-spotted ladybirds?
They live in many open habitats in New Zealand, such as tussock grasslands, low vegetation, native bush, pastures and crop fields.
Source: Wikipedia
What do they eat?
They feed on aphids, including pest species that affect crops like cowpea, plum, cabbage and apple.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Coccinellidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccinella_leonina
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.