Coccinella septempunctata
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
Coccinella septempunctata, commonly known as the seven-spot ladybird (in North America, seven-spotted ladybug, seven-spotted lady beetle), often abbreviated C-7, is a carnivorous beetle native to Europe, most of Asia, and North Africa. It inhabits many regions with a temperate climate. The beetle has been introduced to several other areas, including North America as a biological pest control agent to combat aphid infestations. It is one of approximately 5,000 species of ladybird worldwide. Tatia Bauer states that C. septempunctata's ability to adapt to many different habitats makes it "one of the most successful aphidophagous insects".
C. septempunctata was first described and named in 1758 by the Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus. Coccinella, the name of the genus, comes from the Latin coccineus for the colour "scarlet". The common name is reflected in the Latin name for the species, septem meaning "seven" and punctata meaning "spotted".
C. septempunctata's elytra is red in colour, with three black spots on each wing. A further spot appears where the two wings join, giving a total of seven black spots. Their principal diet is aphids, on which they also depend for development and reproduction. When aphids are scarce, seven-spot ladybirds will survive on alternative food sources such as pollen, nectar, thrips and whitefly, but they cannot reproduce during that time. Predators of C. septempunctata include birds, small mammals, spiders, and other Coccinellidae. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mashhad | 🇮🇷 Iran | |
| 2 | Jammu | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Ankara | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 8 | Tijuana | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 9 | Dushanbe | 🇹🇯 Tajikistan | |
| 10 | Nagoya | 🇯🇵 Japan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Seven-Spotted Lady Beetle sighting in Vancouver on a given day, based on 424 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 13th most-seen of the 482 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April to July
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Seven-Spotted Lady Beetle in Vancouver on a given day, against under 5% in December, the lowest month. Those are among Vancouver's driest months, with about 55 mm of rain a month against 210 mm in November.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Seven-Spotted Lady Beetle sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
89th of 123
Of the 123 cities where we can rate Seven-Spotted Lady Beetle sightings, Vancouver ranks 89th at about 10%. The best odds are in Mashhad (Iran, about 80%), Jammu (India, about 50%) and Birmingham (United Kingdom, about 50%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Seven-Spotted Lady Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Vancouver (424 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
