cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/52930798

Taken in September in Connecticut. I've read that the "M" marking rule is not perfect, nor color/symmetry. Mainly wanna know if they are invasive or not. They aren't pests (for now), just was on our porch.

Asian lady beetle, if your in NA this is an invasive species.

https://beetlesbug.com/asian-lady-beetle-vs-ladybug/

Okay, that's what I thought too. But then I came across this, do u think it might be a native lady beetle? Found on a reddit post (from image searching). I only ask since I'm getting more and more confused lol, I don't see an M mark on my lil dude

Agree with the other person, that's definitely an Asian ladybug

Wow TIL. Thank you for this thread.

Is that some kind of fungus growing on its shell?

Not an entomologist so just my option is based on info from local gardeners and the interwebs, the article you posted is interesting, I knew that the Asian species did not need to have the "m" and your picture kinda looks like the head of the 10 spotted in your article but too many spots on the body. The article I posted shows a bunch of the Asian bugs hibernating in a house and that picture shows a lot of veriaty including a few that look like your pic. I would still say Aaian lady bettle but not an entomologist so ¯\(ツ)/¯

I believe so

I think its harmless?

You sound more informed than me, but that's about where I'm at too lol. I couldn't see where that infographic originally came from, but I've spent the day reading the Wikipedia articles on these guys. Supposedly, lady beetles from all over were introduced to kill aphid populations, to varying degrees of success. It ended up harming native populations more, ofc. I guess by being better at eating prey? (Skill issue?)

Mr. FuzzyAss has given me a scratch to itch >:D I wonder though, I hear of talk about invasive species (I'm in NA), lanternflies, lady bugs, even cats and dogs.

But like... should I be squishing these guys? Lanternflies yes (I think), but idk, there's a chance FuzzyAss is native so...

I wonder what the Top 3 are. I can't remember the whole list lol

Yeah, they also eat the larvae of the native lady battles so double whammy :(

In my area I bet #1is kudzu, that crap is everywhere :(

Alright I'm throwing hands