Native Lady Beetle Highlight – The Transverse Lady Beetle (Coccinella transversoguttata)

The transverse lady beetle is one of our most commonly encountered lady beetles here in Alaska. It gets its name from the wide, horizontal band near the front of its gold to red elytra. The transverse lady beetle does well in a variety of habitats including forests, meadows, parks, gardens, and agricultural fields where it feeds predominantly on aphids but also other small, soft-bodied arthropods.

This species has been in decline throughout many parts of North America; unfortunately, other states and Canadian provinces have reported seeing remarkable declines in the transverse lady beetle after introduction of the non-native seven-spotted lady beetle and/or multicolored Asian lady beetle. Once abundant throughout Canada, the transverse lady beetle has not been detected in over two decades across five Canadian provinces, and has been reduced to small populations in four others. The seven-spotted lady beetle has begun to show up in some urban areas of Alaska which has sparked some concern about the potential for negative impacts on our native transverse lady beetle population.

Posted on July 12, 2023 04:15 PM by awenninger