About Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata is a species of beetle that belongs to the ladybeetle family Coccinellidae. Its common English name is the sixteen-spot ladybird. This species occurs across the Palearctic, including Europe, North Africa, European Russia, the Caucasus, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Transcaucasia, Northern Kazakhstan, Western Asia and Northwest China. It lives in the grass layer of dunes, inland dunes, sandy shores, bodden, Eurasian steppe, wastelands, and dry meadows, and is occasionally found in marshy meadows. It feeds on aphids, Pucciniales rust fungi, powdery mildew, pollen from plants in the Gramineae, Compositae, and Convolvulaceae families, as well as mites and thrips (order Thysanoptera). During the winter, sixteen-spot ladybirds frequently gather in very large aggregations on tree trunks, fence posts, logs, and similar surfaces. This is a small ladybird, reaching around 2 to 3 millimeters in body length. Individuals are usually cream or beige, though darker color forms do exist. The species has a distinctive dark line running down the middle of its elytra, and its spots are often fused; three fused spots frequently form a line on each side of the insect.
