Water ladybird (Anisosticta 19-punctata)

Water ladybird (Anisosticta 19-punctata)

 

Size: 4mm
Basic colour: July-April = biege; April-June = reddish
Pattern colour: black spots
Number of spots: 15-21
Spot fusions: sometimes
Melanic (black) form: no

Pronotum: biege or red with 6 black spots
Leg colour: brown
Habitat: reed-beds and wetlands
Host plant: reeds and rushes
Overwintering: between leaves and in stems of reeds, grass tussocks
Food: aphids

Other notes: Usually biege in colour from late summer until it becomes active the following spring. Then the wing cases and pronotum become flushed with red. Distinctly elongate and flattened in shape.