Cactus lady beetle
The cactus lady beetle is a shiny black, dome-shaped ladybird with two big reddish spots. It is often found on prickly pear cactuses and palm trees. It is a hungry hunter of scale insects, which harm plants.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Cactus lady beetle compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its larvae are black with a yellowish brown belt and have big black spines on their backs.
Its pupa is diamond-shaped, spiny and mottled black and brown.
Birds and lizards seem to leave it alone. Its black and red colours warn that it tastes bad.
Farmers in several countries have used it to fight pests on citrus and other crops.
Most asked questions about Cactus lady beetle
?What does the cactus lady beetle eat?
Scale insects and other small pests that suck the juice of plants.
?Why is it called the twice-stabbed lady beetle?
Its two red spots on a black back look a bit like two little wounds.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Chilocorus cacti
- Group
- Ladybirds
- Family
- Coccinellidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Coccinellidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Twice-stabbed cactus lady beetle
Where the facts come from
- Chilocorus cacti (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 Sam Fraser-Smith from Brisbane, Australia. CC BY 2.0, 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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Seven-spot ladybird
Harlequin ladybird
Mealybug destroyer
Twenty-two-spot ladybird
Twice-stabbed ladybird
Spotted pink ladybird
Common leopard
Western black horse fly
Variable field ant
Asian tramp snail
Asparagus beetle
Cotton harlequin bug.jpg){kind=link}