''Coccinella novemnotata'', the nine-spotted ladybug or nine-spotted lady beetle, is a species of

ladybug Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as they ...

native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. The nine-spotted ladybug has been the state insect of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

since 1989, though its numbers have declined as the numbers of introduced species such as the seven-spotted ladybug and

Asian lady beetle ''Harmonia axyridis'' is a large Coccinellidae, lady beetle or ladybug species that is most commonly known as the harlequin, multicoloured Asian, or Asian lady beetle. This is one of the most variable species in the world, with an exceptionally wi ...

have increased. It was for some time thought extinct in New York, so in 2006, the state considered designating the pink spotted ladybug as state insect instead, but the bill did not pass the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. In 2006 the nine-spotted ladybug was rediscovered in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

(the first East Coast sighting in 14 years). In 2011, about 20 of these ladybugs were found on a farm in

Amagansett, New York Amagansett is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 United States Census, t ...

, the first such sighting in the state since 1982.Ladybug, Ladybug, Welcome Back Home: Good News for the Official State Insect
''The New York Times'', 24 November 2011

Identification

The nine-spotted ladybug can be identified by the presence of four black spots on each of its

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...

, a single spot split between the elytra, and a black suture between the elytra. Its

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...

is black, with two connected white marks at the front of its head.

Range

''C. novemnotata'' has historically been native in North America to the United States and southern Canada. ''C. novemnotata'' has become rare across its native range. It was once the most commonly collected coccinellid in the northeastern United States until the early 1990s with the last individuals collected for Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware between 1986 and 1988, and another collection in Maine in 1992. Another specimen would not be collected in northeastern states until 14 years later in 2006. More recently, ''C. novemnotata'' has only been collected sporadically in the Midwest and west coast of the United States.

Decline

Invasive coccinellid species such as ''

Harmonia axyridis ''Harmonia axyridis'' is a large lady beetle or ladybug species that is most commonly known as the harlequin, multicoloured Asian, or Asian lady beetle. This is one of the most variable species in the world, with an exceptionally wide range of col ...

'' are sometimes associated with the decline of ''C. novemnotata'', but the species was becoming rare in some areas before the introduction and population increase of invasive lady beetles. Changing agricultural habitats have also been considered as another possible explanation, but recent studies do not suggest a correlation between ''C. novemnotata'' densities and land-use change.

Notes

{{Authority control Coccinellidae Beetles of North America Beetles described in 1794 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst Symbols of New York (state)