Hadda Beetle

Appearance

The body of the 28-spotted potato ladybird is nearly round, convex, glossy and up to seven millimetres long. It is reddish-brown with thirteen black spots on each elytron and one or more on each side of the thorax. The eggs are yellow, about 1.5 millimetres long and are placed on the undersides of leaves in batches of ten to sixty five eggs. The oval larvae and pupae are yellow-green decorated with black branched thorny appendices. The beetles and larvae live openly on the leaves, eating the soft tissues between the veins. The female ladybird may produce 300 to 400 eggs. The development stages are completed in four to six weeks under optimal conditions. The larvae pupate on the leaves and young beetles of the new generation feed intensively for one to two weeks to build up their fatty tissue. Only adults are capable of over-wintering. They usually hibernate under fallen leaves at the edges of woods, in bushes or under plant residues in fields.

Distribution

This species originated in the far east of Russia and has been expanding its range in the second half of the 20th century and is now found over most of Russia, north-east China, northern Korea and Japan. It is also found in Australia.

On 1 February 2010 it was reported that an entomologist had identified the presence of Hadda beetles in the Auckland area of New Zealand. MAF Biosecurity New Zealand introduced a surveillance and eradication programme but on March 25, 2010 announced that eradication was impracticable and that they would work with the horticulture industry to minimise the impact of this new pest.

Behavior

The body of the 28-spotted potato ladybird is nearly round, convex, glossy and up to seven millimetres long. It is reddish-brown with thirteen black spots on each elytron and one or more on each side of the thorax. The eggs are yellow, about 1.5 millimetres long and are placed on the undersides of leaves in batches of ten to sixty five eggs. The oval larvae and pupae are yellow-green decorated with black branched thorny appendices. The beetles and larvae live openly on the leaves, eating the soft tissues between the veins. The female ladybird may produce 300 to 400 eggs. The development stages are completed in four to six weeks under optimal conditions. The larvae pupate on the leaves and young beetles of the new generation feed intensively for one to two weeks to build up their fatty tissue. Only adults are capable of over-wintering. They usually hibernate under fallen leaves at the edges of woods, in bushes or under plant residues in fields.