22 Spot Ladybird - Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata

The brightest of the yellow British ladybirds, it always has 22 spots, which rarely join up. It is a very small ladybird at 3 to 4.5 mm. There are two colour varieties, one where the pronotum is yellow, the other where it is white.

As a mildew feeder, the 22-spot Ladybird is best looked for amongst low vegetation.

April to August.

It is unusual amongst ladybirds in that eats mildew, grazing from the soil surface or from low herbage.

The 22 spot is fairly frequent throughout England, but less so in Scotland and Wales.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. There were a total of 203 VC55 records for this species up to March 2015.