LIBRARY

COLEOPTERA 567
toothed. Abdomen with five or six free sternites. Larvre caraboid, somber, or
sometimes with bright markings; rugose, spiny, wrinkled, hairy, and certain
species covered with cottony wax; antennre minute and with as many as five
segments; three to four ocelli on each side; mandibles curved, with or without
basal molars. '
The ladybirds are among the best known and most loved of all insects, and
many of the common red and red-and-black-spotted forms have long been revered
and regarded as omens of good luck. The adults are active crawlers and
fliers and are often very abundant throughout the spring, summer, and autumn
periods. The great majority feed to some extent upon plant exudations, nectars,
and particularly upon small soft-bodied insects, including especially aphids and
coccids, and are therefore considered beneficial.
FIG. 190. The adults of the convergent ladybird beetle assembling near a stream in the
Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, in auttunn preparatory to entering hibernating quarters
among the leaves and debris nearby.
The family, a fairly large one, consists of 247 genera and about 3,000 species.
Some of the smallest species are the European CZz'tostethus arcuatus Rossi, 1.2-
1.5 mm., and the American Stethorus picipes Casey, 1.0-1.3 mm. in length,
while the largest species are Anatis ocellata (Linn.), 8-9 mm., of Europe, Anisolemnia
dilatata (Fab.), 11.2 mm., and Synonycha grandis Thunberg, 13.6 mm.,
both of southern Asia and Malaysia.
The larvre and adults when disturbed may discharge what is thought to be a
protective fluid.
PHYTOPHAGOUS SPECmS
Members of the genera Halyzia Muls .• 14 spp. (Holaretic); Psyllobora Chev"
rolat, 44 spp. (North and South American); Thea Muls., 12 spp. (Palrearctic.
Ethiopian, Indo-Malysian); and Vibidia Muls., 3 spp. (Palrearctic), feed on
fungi or pollen. Members of the large genus Epilachna Redtenbacher, 466 spp .•