Henosepilachna sparsa vigintisexpunctata

 Dieke (not Boisduval)

Phytophagous beetle or 26 point beetle

 General 

• Phytophagous beetle of the family Coccinellidae.
• Easily differentiated from leaf beetles by its club-shaped antennae at their ends.
• All stages of this ladybug from larva to adult are phytophagous.

• Sensitive botanical family (s)

• Affected production areas :

• Organs attacked

Symptoms, damage

• Symptoms :
  • Cut leaves, punctured by the feeding activities of adults and larvae.
  • Leaf blade cut between the veins by the young larvae giving the leaves a lacy appearance (often visible on black nightshade) (figure 1).
  • Damage generally low impact on the crop.

• Signs : Presence of adults and larvae on affected leaves (figures).

 Biology

• Development cycle : comprises 3 larval stages, a pupal stage and an adult stage.
  • Eggs laid in bundles (oopplates) under the leaves, they are yellow in color.
  • Larvae with globular bodies (figure 1) moving slowly unlike larvae of predatory ladybugs.
  • The dark-colored, oval-shaped pupa has white branched appendages on the lower part (Figure 2)
  • Adults measuring between 7 and 10mm in length, red-orange in color (figure 3). They have 26 black dots arranged transversely.
• These phytophagous ladybirds are very similar to predatory ladybugs. 

Protection 

• Given the low level of impact induced by this ladybug, it is generally not useful to put in place protective measures.