100 species #4: Asian ladybug

[urbpan]

Asian ladybug Harmonia axyridis

I struggled a bit with this identification, since the "M" on this beetle's pronotum is filled in and indistinct. But, if I am correct (and I'll issue a prompt correction if you can convince me I'm not), this is the creature known as the "Variable Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle," and so a slight variation shouldn't be too unexpected. Indeed, over at bugguide.net, there are 26 pages of variation.

The habitat cue is appropriate, too: inside a house in the middle of winter. Harmonia is well-known for getting indoors to avoid the cold, sometimes in huge numbers. For this reason, and also because it has been "implicated in adverse ecological impacts involving changes in invaded communities through interspecific competition and intraguild predation," this species is considered by some to be a pest and/or an invasive species. Indeed, near human impacted environments in North America, one might have a hard time finding other species of ladybird beetles. This species is spreading across Europe and has been recently discovered in South Africa.

I don't know if their presence in a garden is more positive (they eat aphids, and were in fact deliberately introduced to do so) or more negative (as an indicator of reduced biodiversity).

Surprisingly, this is the first of the 100 species that was also one of my 365 urban species.