Ladybirds (Beetles)Australoneda bourgeoisi Coccinella transversalis Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Harmonia conformis Olla v-nigrum Orcus australasiae
The species Olla v-nigrum, commonly known as Ashy Gray Lady Beetle, from the “Lady Beetles” family Coccinellidae. This species has a wide distribution from North America, Central America and Oceania.
This lady beetle was found to in the Bowen area around 2019, and believed by agronomist to have been introduced accidentally, being borne on the winds of a cyclone that had travelled from New Caledonia where Olla v-nigrum had been introduced to eat problem pest psyllids. There were two cyclones around this period, Cyclone Debbie hit Bowen in March 2017 and Cyclone Oma in February 2019 which passed to the east of Bowen.3
Ashy Gray Lady Beetle (Olla v-nigrum) was found on the Cottonwood Tree (Hibiscus Tiliaceus), a popular tree of another bug known as Hibiscus Harlequin Bug (Tectocoris diophthalmus).
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Coleoptera
- Suborder: Polyphaga
- Superfamily: Coccinelloidea
- Family: Coccinellidae
- Subfamily: Coccinellinae
- Tribe: Coccinellini
- Genus: Olla
- Species: Olla v-nigrum
Footnote & References
- Ashy Gray Lady Beetle (Olla v-nigrum), Photographs © Wayne Jeffree
- Many thanks for ID to Di Bickers, member of Entomology Australia “Invertebratology”, Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/507004496955277
- Many thanks to Alison Pearson for reference on cyclones that possibly introduced species to Australia, member of Entomology Australia “Invertebratology”, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/groups/507004496955277
- Olla v-nigrum (Mulsant, 1899), Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/7993c266-f869-49eb-823e-306bbe0aa950
- Ashy Gray Lady Beetle (Olla v-nigrum), iNaturalistAU, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/313246-Olla-v-nigrum
Ladybirds (Beetles)Australoneda bourgeoisi Coccinella transversalis Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Harmonia conformis Olla v-nigrum Orcus australasiae
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