Девятиточечная божья коровка: исчезновение и восстановление популяции.

Species of beetle

Coccinella novemnotata, the nine spotted ladybug or nine spotted lady beetle or C9, is a species of ladybug in the family Coccinellidae native to North America. This beetle was once ubiquitous across the continent but experienced a sharp and drastic decline around the 1960’s. Now, considered a rare species, the nine spotted ladybug has received much attention from researchers who wish to understand the causes of its decline and restore the population of this charismatic beetle to benefit from their aphidophagous nature as biocontrol agents in agriculture.

Although this family has been the focus of many studies in the 19th and 20th century to delineate the subfamily and tribe relations, there is no current consensus as most studies based on morphology contradict. However, a recent studies based on molecular sequencing data has clarified and produced a few detailed phylogenetic trees.

The nine spotted ladybug can be identified by the presence of four black spots on each of its elytra, a single spot split between the elytra, and a black suture between the elytra. Its pronotum is black, with two connected white marks at the front of its head. They range from 4.7 7.0 millimeters (0.19 0.28 inches) long and the elytra can range from yellow to orange and spotted or spotless. Males can be distinguished by a spot on their anterior coxae and stripe on the femora.

The nine spotted ladybeetle are nomadic and can thrive in a great variety of available habitats across the continent, based on several factors such as aphid or prey density, mate distribution, and seasonal availability of herbaceous material to facilitate breeding. Within agricultural landscapes, Coccinella novemnotata is present in cotton, alfalfa, corn, and soybean fields as a candidate for biological control of aphids. In addition, they can be found in suburban parks and gardens. In more natural settings, they are found in open areas with shrubbery and small trees (deciduous or coniferous), meadows, prairie grassland, and riparian zones.

C. novemnotata has historically been native in North America the United States and southern Canada. C. novemnotata has become rare across its native range. It was once the most commonly collected coccinellid in the Northeastern United States until the early 1990s with the last individuals collected from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware between 1986 and 1988, and another collection in Maine in 1992. A prominent effort of citizen science originating from Cornell University in New York has reported tens of sightings of the rare beetle in western states of the US, with nearly no sighting on the eastern side. In 2008, over 40 individual C. novemnotata and collected over 30 live specimens exclusively from the western states. More recently, C. novemnotata has only been collected sporadically in the Midwest and west coast of the United States. A 2015 Canadian report shows larger populations in provinces of British Colombia and Alberta, and smaller sightings in Ontario.

The nine spotted ladybug has been the state insect of New York since 1989, though its numbers have declined as the numbers of introduced species such as the seven spotted ladybug and Asian lady beetle have increased. It was for some time thought extinct in New York, so in 2006, the state considered designating the pink spotted ladybug as state insect instead, but the bill did not pass the Senate. In 2006 the nine spotted ladybug was rediscovered in Virginia (the first East Coast sighting in 14 years). In 2011, about 20 of these ladybugs were found on a farm in Amagansett, New York, the first such sighting in the state since 1982.