Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata

Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata is a species of beetle in the family Coccinellidae. Its common English name is the sixteen-spot ladybird. It is found in the Palearctic - Europe, North Africa, European Russia, the Caucasus, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Transcaucasia, Northern Kazakhstan, Western Asia and Northwest China.[2][3] It is an inhabitant of the grass layer occurring on dunes, inland dunes, sandy shores and bodden, in Eurasian steppe or on wastelands and dry meadows and occasionally in marshy meadows.[4] It is recorded as feeding on aphids but also on Pucciniales and powdery mildew, on the pollen on Gramineae, Compositae, and Convolvulaceae, and also on mites and thrips (Thysanoptera) [5][6]

Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Coleoptera
Family:
Coccinellidae
Genus:
Tytthaspis
Species:
T. sedecimpunctata
Binomial name
Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata
(Linnaeus, 1761) [1]

The 16-spot frequently forms very large aggregations on tree trunks, fence posts, logs and so on during winter.[7] It is a small ladybird of around 2-3mm. It is usually a cream or beige colour, although darker forms do occur. It has a distinctive dark line on the middle of its elytra, and its spots are often fused, with three fused spots often forming a line on either side of the ladybird.

A large group of Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata ladybirds on a tree trunk.

References
  1. Fauna Svecica sistens animalia Sveciæ Regni: mammalia, aves, amphibia, pisces, insecta, vermes. Distributa per classes & ordines, genera & species, cum differentiis specierum, synonymis auctorum, nominibus incolarum, locis natalium, descriptionibus insectorum. Editio altera, auctior. 578 pp. Laurentii Salvii (Stockholm)
  2. N. B. Nikitsky and А. S. Ukrainsky , 2016 The Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) of Moscow Province ISSN 0013-8738, Entomological Review, 2016, Vol. 96, No. 6, pp. 710–735 ISSN 0013-8738 online pdf
  3. Fauna Europaea
  4. Koch, K., Die Käfer Mitteleuropas, Ökologie. Vol. 2 (Goecke und Evers Verlag, Krefeld, 1989).
  5. Turian, G., “Coccinelles micromycétophages (Col.), Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 42 (1/2), 52–57 (1969)
  6. Ricci, C., Food Strategy of Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata in Different Habitats, in Ecology of Aphidophaga, Ed. by Hodek, I. (Academia; Dordrecht: Dr. W. Junk, Prague, 1986), pp. 311–316. 31
  7. "Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata". UK Beetle recording. Retrieved 14 November 2018.


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