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
By DaveT383
All rights reserved
Uploaded Apr 2, 2021. Captured Apr 1, 2021 15:19.
comments (8)
Cheers Posted 4 years ago
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
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Posted 4 years ago
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
Posted 4 years ago
Niel Posted 4 years ago