Cream-spot Ladybird

Calvia quatuordecimguttata

Date First Recorded in the Garden: 03/06/2021

Family: Coccinellidae: The Ladybirds

Known as Ladybugs in the US, are a familiar family of beetles called Coccinellidae with around 6,000 species known worldwide. According to the Field Guide to the Ladybirds (ref 1), there are 47 species resident in the UK. Most are carnivorous, feeding mainly on aphids.

It is important to note that the elytra (the casing we typically think of as red, yellow or black protecting the wings), is very variable (polymorphism) and can make identifying species confusing. Males and females are similar, females typically larger.

Cream-spot Ladybird – Calvia quatuordecimguttata

Not your typical coloured Ladybird, but there are a couple of other species this could be confused with. The Orange Ladybird which can be distiguished from the Cream-spot as the rows of dots on the former run in lines more from front to back and that of the latter Cream-spot from one side to the other. The second species it could be confused with is the 18-spot Ladybird but this species has a distinctive wavey marking at the front of the Elytra.

In the Garden

2021 was, it seems, a good year for ladybirds in the garden, with 2023 being okay, but 2022 saw very few of any species. Overall, we find this a little surprising due to the sheer numbers of suitable adult feeding opportunities in the garden, including the hazel, which is often overrun with aphids. The Cream-spot Ladybirds predates aphids and jumping plant lice.

Ref 1: Roy. H & Brown. P (2018): Bloomsbury Wildlife Guides: Field Guide to the Ladybirds of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd