22-Spot Ladybird

Fascinating facts about the 22-Spot Ladybird

• A tiny beetle the size of a grain of sand, the 22-spot ladybird measures just 3-5 mm long yet wears a bright yellow back dotted with exactly twenty-two black spots. Its pronotum adds five more spots, making the pattern instantly recognizable across Europe where it was first recorded in Germany in 1874 on Astragalus leaves. This striking uniformity across life stages, larva, pupa and adult, means even casual observers can spot it without expert help.
• Unlike most ladybirds that hunt aphids, the 22-spot ladybird munches on mildew, especially the fungus Erysiphe holosericea that coats umbellifers and low-growing shrubs. The beetle's hemolymph contains a dimeric alkaloid, psylloborine A, a chemical weapon that likely deters predators while it grazes on fungal hyphae.
• In the highlands of South-Eastern Kazakhstan the beetle can huddle in massive winter groups: a 1960-1965 survey by G.I. Savoiskaya counted up to 500 individuals packed together in leaf litter at the bases of birches, hawthorns and wild apple trees between 1 000 m and 2 000 m altitude.
• From egg to adult the 22-spot ladybird races through six distinct stages. Females lay 20-100 creamy-yellow eggs under leaves, which hatch after five days; the newborn larvae, 0.9 mm long, wait three hours before devouring the fungus on which they were laid. They then grow through four larval instars, reaching over 7 mm by the fourth, spend six days as a bright yellow pupa, and emerge as soft, translucent adults that can overwinter under leaf litter or even stay active through winter on dock leaves in the UK.
• The 22-spot ladybird has left its tiny footprints on human culture, appearing on postage stamps across six continents. Since 2008 it has been featured on stamps in Jersey, Belarus, Slovenia, India, the Netherlands and Romania, each design highlighting its vivid yellow-and-black pattern. These worldwide releases not only celebrate biodiversity but also raise public awareness of a beetle that quietly combats plant mildew, turning a simple stamp into a tiny ambassador for ecological balance.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the 22-Spot Ladybird

In the sun-dappled undergrowth, a tiny, spotted sentinel patrols its domain, the 22-Spot Ladybird moving with deliberate, unhurried purpose as it searches for aphids and other small invertebrates to devour. With its vibrant red elytra adorned with 22 yellow spots, this diminutive beetle is a master of subtle, nuanced movement, its shiny carapace glinting like a miniature jewel as it navigates the intricate, green world of leaf and stem. As it goes about its quiet, industrious life, the 22-Spot Ladybird embodies a quiet, unassuming resilience, a testament to the enduring power of life in even the smallest, most overlooked of creatures.

More insects and spiders to discover

Browse Feravox