STATUS AND SPREAD OF THE PALEARCTIC LADY BEETLES HIPPODAMIA VARIEGATAAND PROPYLEA-QUATUORDECIMPUNCTATA (COLEOPTERA, COCCINELLIDAE) IN PENNSYLVANIA, 1993-1995
Ag. Wheeler et Ca. Stoops, STATUS AND SPREAD OF THE PALEARCTIC LADY BEETLES HIPPODAMIA VARIEGATAAND PROPYLEA-QUATUORDECIMPUNCTATA (COLEOPTERA, COCCINELLIDAE) IN PENNSYLVANIA, 1993-1995, Entomological news, 107(5), 1996, pp. 291-298
The adventive lady beetles Hippodamia variegata and Propylea quatuorde
cimpunctata were detected in Pennsylvania in 1992 and 1993, respective
ly. Surveys of these aphid predators were conducted during 1993-1996 t
o document their westward dispersion from counties bordering on the De
laware River; their distribution in eastern Pennsylvania is mapped for
the first three seasons. Twelve coccinelline Coccinellidae, both indi
genous and nonindigenous species, were col lected during the first thr
ee seasons; the number of sites at which each was found is recorded. O
ur surveys document explosive colonization of the state by Harmonica a
xyridis, corroborate evidence of a precipitous decline in numbers of C
occinella novemnotata in much of eastern North America, and support th
e idea that Hippodamia convergens is no longer a dominant coccinellid
in herbaceous habitats in the northeastern states.