![coccinella californica coccinella californica](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/94/db/9b/94db9b5764cca217303fe2bc58fcf2d9.jpg)
![coccinella californica coccinella californica](https://kleintiergalerie.de/wp-content/uploads/coccinella-septempunctata-20180623-2.jpg)
Overzealous collection of lady beetle aggregations may be producing a “shadow effect” in parts of the Central Valley, where fewer beetles are returning to their natural habitat. They survive the summer on high fat reserves acquired from eating pollen and nectar in the mountains. Beetles collected from late spring aggregations may not disperse quickly when released but eat relatively few prey. Beetles collected from over-wintering aggregations disperse quickly when released into the garden, rarely stopping to feed.
![coccinella californica coccinella californica](http://ftp.funet.fi/index/files/index/Tree_of_life/insecta/coleoptera/cucujoidea/coccinellidae/coccinellinae/coccinella/septempunctata-5.jpg)
Lady beetles form aggregations in the lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada, where they are commercially collected for sale. In the case of the convergent lady beetle, however, garden releases are generally unreliable for pest control, primarily because of the beetle’s natural life cycle. The introduction of a native insect for pest management is known as augmentative pest control, and can also be a successful technique. The commonly sold convergent lady beetle is a West Coast native. Other exotic coccinellids, such as the mealybug destroyer, have proved useful in commercial pest management. Vedalia beetles, a coccinellid from Australia, were introduced to California citrus orchards in 1888 and were credited with saving the citrus industry, in less than one growing season, from the depredations of cottony cushion scale (a pest accidentally imported from Australia)-thus launching the science of classical biological control, that of using an exotic predator to control a pest (usually also exotic). In Phytologia, published in 1800, Erasmus Darwin, grandfather to Charles, may have been the first to write about the potential for the lady beetle to control aphids. The significance of these findings for research into the decline of native Coccinella species in the United States is discussed.Convergent lady beetle ( Hippodamia convergens) Illustration: Craig Latker All known external characters that can be used for sexing North American Coccinella species are consolidated for easy reference. Morphometric data that quantify external dimorphisms and provide evidence for the reliability of using them for sexing are reported. have males with conspicuous pale anterior coxal spots and femoral stripes that can be easily viewed, especially on mobile specimens. Additionally, most species of Coccinella L.
![coccinella californica coccinella californica](https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~biodiv/entomology/main/Coleoptera/Coccinellidae/Coccinella%20hieroglyphica%20(3lateral).jpg)
novemnotata but is not applicable to the other species. Another, even more rapid, method uses the shape of a prominent black pronotal marking and shows promise for C. Closer examination of the species Coccinella novemnotata Herbst, Coccinella septempunctata L., Coccinella transverso guttata richardsoni Brown, and Coccinella trifasciata perplexa Mulsant has led to the discovery of a reliable and efficient way to differentiate the sexes by looking at the shape of the seventh stemite (fifth visible), and this method has been demonstrated to be 100% reliable for all four species. Research involving use of live specimens requires techniques to non-invasively determine the sex of individuals, but such methods have not been clearly or fully described in the literature. Behavioral methods can potentially lead to sex identification but are very time consuming, require exposing sexually naïve individuals to conspecifics, and risk incorrect identification since homosexual mounting in these species has been observed in the laboratory. Coccinellids typically do not show exaggerated sexual dimorphisms, and the only reliable sexing methods for some species have been dissection and behavioral observations.