22-Spot Ladybird

The little 22-Spot Ladybird inhabits a variety of environments but is most common in grasslands, woodland margins, cities, and gardens. It consumes the mildew (fungus) that grows on certain plants. The 22-spot ladybird is found in Europe from the United Kingdom to Ukraine and south to Iran and Turkey.

A ladybird has four stages in its life cycle: the egg, the larval stage, in which the caterpillar goes through several molts, the pupal stage, during which the larva becomes an adult, and the adult stage, in which the female lays eggs in clusters of up to forty. The 22-spot ladybird is bright yellow with 22 round, black spots on the wing cases. It can be distinguished from the larger 14-spot Ladybird (the only other yellow and black ladybird) by its more rounded spots, which never merge into each other.