Coccinella septempunctata, Linnaeus, 1758

Hesler, Louis S., Losey, John E., Allee, Leslie L. & Smyth, Rebecca Rice, 2014, New Records of Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) from Wyoming, USA, The Coleopterists Bulletin 68 (1), pp. 127-130 : 129

Coccinella septempunctata L., 1758 ( Coccinellinae : Coccinellini )

WYOMING: Albany County, Medicine Bow National Forest, 19 January 1991, M. Pomerinke; Albany County , Medicine Bow National Forest , 19 March 1991, M. Pomerinke; Albany County : Medicine Bow National Forest , 3 miles up road 707A, 11 September 2007, A. Townsend. New state records. In addition, several digital images of C. septempunctata from Wyoming have been submitted to the Lost Ladybug Project (LLP, Losey et al. 2012), subsequently identified by experts, and entered into a database. The following records of adult C. septempunctata from Wyoming were found in the LLP database as virtually vouchered specimens (LLP 2013): Laramie County, Cheyenne, Crystal Reservoir Road , County Rd 210, 41.1525173°N, − 105.18059°W, 16 June 2010, Leslie Allee, 3 adults ; Teton County, Alta, Grand Targhee , 43.787113°N, − 110.95929°W, 21 August 2010, James Kopco, 26 adults ; Big Horn County, Basin , city walking path, 44.3799574°N, − 108.03898°W, 13 September 2010, Leanna Morton, 3 adults ; Laramie County, Cheyenne , back alley/field near drainage ditch, 41.1399814°N, − 104.82024°W, 1 May 2012, Damon Baker, 6 adults ; Sweetwater County, Rawlins , 41.7910697°N, – 107.23866°W, 18 May 2012, Kent Fothergill, 1 adult ; Laramie County, Cheyenne , 41.1399814°N, – 104.82024°W, 17 June 2012, Harriet Moore, 2 adults ; Laramie County, Cheyenne , 41.1399814°N, – 104.82024°W, 20 June 2012, Harriet Moore, 1 adult .

Coccinella septempunctata is an invasive species that is widely distributed throughout North America ( Shaefer et al. 1987). This native European species is considered invasive as it has spread rapidly over the continent (Snyder and Evans 2006), and because it consumes non-target non-pest prey, such as a native aphid, an endangered butterfly, and native aphidophagous lady beetles ( Schellhorn et al. 2005; Rand and Louda 2006; Evans et al. 2011). Coccinella septempunctata has been found in states bordering Wyoming since the late 1980s and 1990 ( Rice 1992; Hesler and Kieckhefer 2008; Hesler et al. 2009). Thus, the first two collection records from 1991 were consistent with the advent of C. septempunctata in the intermountain region of western North America. Moreover, the first record from January 1991 suggests collection of an over- wintering adult, and thus C. septempunctata was likely present in Wyoming as early as 1990. Several of the additional, more recent records from the LLP database indicate that this non-native species is now distributed throughout Wyoming.

The new records of coccinellids presented here support the contention that periodic examination of undetermined material may yield new knowledge about the geographic distribution of beetle species (McCorquodale and Bondrup-Nielsen 2004; Hesler and Kieckhefer 2008). The additional records of C. septempunctata provided in the LLP database demonstrated its utility as a reference source for studying the geographic distribution of coccinellids ( Fothergill et al. 2010; Losey et al. 2012). The new records in this paper may also facilitate larger works on the regional coccinellid fauna and in tracking and understanding the geographic spread of invasive coccinellids such as C. septempunctata . Further study is needed to determine particular habitat and prey associations of these four, newly recorded coccinellid species in Wyoming.

Pinned specimens of beetles that represent the primary state records in this paper were deposited as voucher specimens in the University of Wyoming Insect Museum, Laramie.