Southern squash lady beetle
Epilachna tredecimnotata
The southern squash lady beetle is a ladybird with a surprise. Most ladybirds hunt tiny bugs, but this one eats plants. It has spots on its round back like its cousins.
Lives in
From Arizona and Texas down through Central America, South America and the Caribbean
Length
0.7 to 1 cm (0.27 to 0.39 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a gentle little beetle that does not hurt people.
What does it eat?
It eats plants instead of other bugs, which is unusual for a ladybird.
How big is it?
How long is it?
💅small enough to sit on your fingernail🍚as long as 1.5 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 9.7 seconds⚡moves 1100 times its own body length every second
How big is Southern squash lady beetle compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
Southern squash lady beetle about 39 km/h (24 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It looks a lot like its cousin the squash beetle, but its spots are smaller.
2
It is one of the few ladybirds that would rather munch leaves than catch aphids.
3
It lives in warm places, from the southern United States all the way to South America.
you asked
Most asked questions about Southern squash lady beetle
?Is the southern squash lady beetle a ladybird?
Yes. It belongs to the ladybird family, but it eats plants instead of insects.
?How big is the southern squash lady beetle?
It is about 7 to 10 millimetres long, a bit bigger than a pea.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Epilachna tredecimnotata
- Group
- Ladybirds
- Family
- Coccinellidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Coccinellidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Epilachna tredecimnotata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Francisco Farriols Sarabia. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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