Yellow-haired Ladybird

Adoxellus flavihirtus

This 3mm ladybird showed up during two summertime invertebrate surveys by Ian and Anne Millar. I photographed it this winter. Sean Clifford over on iNaturalist suggested the exact identification and to an amateur like me it certainly looks like the animal described in detail by Nicholas Martin of Plant and Food Research.

The yellow-haired ladybird is endemic to New Zealand and it’s said to be widespread but not commonly seen. They are quite common on tree trunks at night on Puangiangi. I haven’t seen them eating anything as yet.

Andrew Crowe in Which New Zealand Insect? says there are about 40 species of ladybird here, more than half of them native. The only other one I have seen on the island so far is the Large Spotted Ladybird, introduced from Australia.

By the way, these insect and spider identifications will mostly be tentative and I’ll be very pleased to hear from anyone who knows differently.