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Saigon Beetle I found this in my 17th floor apt yesterday.  Geotagged,Heteroneda billardieri,Netty Ladybird (Beetle),Spring Click/tap to enlarge PromotedCountry intro

Saigon Beetle

I found this in my 17th floor apt yesterday.

    comments (8)

  1. Hello. I hope maybe Pudding4brains, or someone else can tell me: is this Heteroneda balladieri (sp)? I found this inside my apt in Saigon and released it into my balcony garden, hoping it is a typically beneficial ladybird-esque pest gobbler.
    Cheers
    Posted 4 years ago
    1. Hi Dave, and a warm welcome from me too :o)
      This is a _very_ interesting photo/specimen(!)
      The yellow and black "netted" ladybird beetles shown on photographs are usually either Harmonia testudinaria or Heteroneda billardieri (or Heteroneda reticulata as some call it).
      This certainly is not Harmonia testudinaria and it looks sufficiently like Heteroneda billardieri to name it thus on a first glance, BUT I see plenty of differences too(!!). Currently I do not have my notes and literature at hand, so I cannot check, but I strongly suspect this to be some other closely related species (with probably hardly any images available online).
      If you see it again, please, please capture it for a short while until I have a chance to check what details we would need to see clearly.
      This will probably be an aphid and/or mite predator, but some species (especially the rarer ones) are quite picky on what species of aphids they survive on best. The biology may or may not be known, but we first need a name for this. I'll be able to check what I have on the various Heteroneda spp over Easter.
      Very excited to get my head around this one - thanks for sharing!
      Cheers, Arp

      P.S. Note to self: Here is a similar looking specimen, also from Vietnam. A bit of an inbetweenie for the one by Dave here and the "standard" billardieri:
      https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisbug/comments/e8vyyf/south_vietnam_what_is_this_yellow_and_black_about/
      Photo: https://i.redd.it/mumtw8tl5v341.jpg
      Posted 4 years ago, modified 4 years ago
  2. Welcome to JungleDragon, Dave. Thanks for sharing this photo!

    Please note that in JungleDragon, members are asked to include basic details as part of the photo, therefore please consider the following tip(s):

    - You did not share any location info (although I realize you mentioned Saigon in the title and in your comment). You are asked to at least share the country in which the photo was taken, since this helps in identifying the species. You can set the country using the "Set country" button. Even better is to geotag the photo, which you can do using the "Geotag this photo" button.

    Note that by sharing your photo with more complete details, it will show up in the species browser, the global wildlife map and in search. It helps people find your photo much better, plus it delivers a far more educational photo. Check out our photo sharing tutorial for more information:

    http://www.jungledragon.com/about/howtosharephotos

    If you have any questions, please reply to this comment, we're here to help :)
    Posted 4 years ago
  3. Dave, I haven't yet been able to access all my notes, but please, please, please,please, please try to obtain a few specimen of this beetle. First quick search reveals that this is not a good fit for the other described Heteroneda.
    It may still be an (undescribed?) variant or possibly subspecies of Heteroneda billardieri, but it's sufficiently different to at least warrant closer inspection to determine if it is "just" an undocumented variant, or a separate species (new to science) altogether.
    All that, with the necessary doubt and a clear call that I should first do my homework better, but meantime it would be a real shame if you stumble on it again and let it go before closer inspection.
    Exciting stuff ...
    Cheers, Arp

    P.S. Your image is presented here as full copyright "All rights reserved". If you grant me permission I'll use it to create a side-by-side with a "standard" Heteroneda billardieri to visualize the differences as I see them, but without permission I'm not supposed to do that.
    If you were able to take more pictures of this beetle, of course I would be interested to see those too - even if badly focused etc. I'll drop you a personal message with my email address ..
    Posted 4 years ago, modified 4 years ago
  4. great find Dave.
    Posted 4 years ago
    1. *^^* Thanks Paul! Total coincidence. Posted 4 years ago
  5. Welcome and well done Dave

    Niel
    Posted 4 years ago
  6. First glance in my notes/literature reveals that the beetle shown by Dave actually is a close match to the holotype of Coccinella reticulata (== Heteroneda billardieri). That certainly raises some interesting questions, but mostly about the variants such as mine from Java:
    Heteroneda billardieri - Sarangan, Java Found this old collage (that I might as well share here), while looking into the beetle below, uploaded by Dave: https://www.jungledragon.com/image/111789/saigon_beetle.html<br />
There seem to be some interesting things to note about that one, but it'll take a few days... Beetle,Coccinellidae,Coleoptera,Geotagged,Heteroneda,Heteroneda billardieri,Heteroneda reticulata,Indonesia,Java,Ladybug,Laybird Beetle,Netty Ladybird (Beetle)
    If the differences, at some point, would warrant splitting the species (questionable, but possible) chances are that the pattern shown on Dave's image would end up being the true "reticulata", so for now I see no problem in identifying his image as such.
    Posted 4 years ago, modified 4 years ago

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Heteroneda billardieri (Crotch, 1871) is a species of Ladybug from the family of Coccinellidae, sometimes still referred to as Heteroneda reticulata (Fabricius, 1801), but see under "Naming". The beetle measures around 5-6mm and is found (sometimes abundantly) in Malaysia and parts of Indonesia (Java notably) and can probably be found in other parts of Southeast Asia as well.

Similar species: Beetles
Species identified by Pudding4brains
View DaveT383's profile

By DaveT383

All rights reserved
Uploaded Apr 2, 2021. Captured Apr 1, 2021 15:19.
  • SM-A515F
  • f/2.0
  • 1/1s
  • ISO200
  • 4.6mm