Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Coleopterida
Ordo: Coleoptera
Subordo: Polyphaga
Infraordo: Cucujiformia
Superfamilia: Coccinelloidea

Familia: Coccinellidae
Subfamilia: Coccinellinae
Tribus: Coccinellini
Genus: Tytthaspis
Subgenus: T. (Tytthaspis)

Species: Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata
Name

Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata Linnaeus, 1761
References

Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata is a species of beetle in the family Coccinellidae. Its common English name is the sixteen-spot ladybird. It is found in the Palearctic - Europe, North Africa, European Russia, the Caucasus, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Transcaucasia, Northern Kazakhstan, Western Asia and Northwest China.[2][3] It is an inhabitant of the grass layer occurring on dunes, inland dunes, sandy shores and bodden, in Eurasian steppe or on wastelands and dry meadows and occasionally in marshy meadows.[4] It is recorded as feeding on aphids but also on Pucciniales and powdery mildew, on the pollen on Gramineae, Compositae, and Convolvulaceae, and also on mites and thrips (Thysanoptera) [5][6]

The 16-spot frequently forms very large aggregations on tree trunks, fence posts, logs and so on during winter.[7] It is a small ladybird of around 2-3mm. It is usually a cream or beige colour, although darker forms do occur. It has a distinctive dark line on the middle of its elytra, and its spots are often fused, with three fused spots often forming a line on either side of the ladybird.
A large group of Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata ladybirds on a tree trunk.
References

Fauna Svecica sistens animalia Sveciæ Regni: mammalia, aves, amphibia, pisces, insecta, vermes. Distributa per classes & ordines, genera & species, cum differentiis specierum, synonymis auctorum, nominibus incolarum, locis natalium, descriptionibus insectorum. Editio altera, auctior. 578 pp. Laurentii Salvii (Stockholm)
N. B. Nikitsky and А. S. Ukrainsky , 2016 The Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) of Moscow Province ISSN 0013-8738, Entomological Review, 2016, Vol. 96, No. 6, pp. 710–735 ISSN 0013-8738 online pdf
Fauna Europaea
Koch, K., Die Käfer Mitteleuropas, Ökologie. Vol. 2 (Goecke und Evers Verlag, Krefeld, 1989).
Turian, G., “Coccinelles micromycétophages (Col.), Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft 42 (1/2), 52–57 (1969)
Ricci, C., Food Strategy of Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata in Different Habitats, in Ecology of Aphidophaga, Ed. by Hodek, I. (Academia; Dordrecht: Dr. W. Junk, Prague, 1986), pp. 311–316. 31
"Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata". UK Beetle recording. Retrieved 14 November 2018.