Striped Ladybird Beetle - Micraspis frenata

FAMILY COCCINELLIDAE

This page contains information and pictures about Striped Ladybird Beetles that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia


Body length 4mm

Striped Ladybirds are light orange-brown in colour, medium size, with three strips on their back.



From late spring to late summer, we easily found many of them on tall grasses in Wishart bushland. They are common in Brisbane.



Like some of the other ladybirds, when disturbed, they quickly drop to the ground. Some of them fly away in the mid way of dropping, and disappear in the middle of the air.



Striped Ladybirds are mostly found on tall grasses, although we found them on leaves of small plants as well.



The pictures above show the mating couples. As most other ladybirds, female are same size or lightly bigger than the male. Otherwise they looked the same.


Length 6mm

The above pictures show the ladybird larvae found near by with the adults. We believe they are the Striped Ladybird larvae.



The larva is 6mm in body length, dull brown in colour with white spots on its back. They have relatively long legs compared with other species.



From reference information they feed on the brown fungus-like substances on the grass seeds. They also feed on pollen and nectar. Many of larvae and adults can be found on tall grasses, some are wandering on tall grasses flowers. Both adults and larvae spend a lot of the time on the tall grass flowers and seemingly feeding on it. We do not know what exactly they feed on.



We did not found the pupa of this ladybird yet.

Reference:
1. Ladybirds - Insects Identification and Information Guide, Australian Cotton CRC, 2004.
2. Observations on the Adults of Micraspis frenata - Trevor J. HAWKESWOOD and James R. TURNER, 2002
3. Australian Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) Their biology and classification - A.Ślipiński, Australian Biological Resources, 2007, p172.