The present populations of this species occupy widely all the Palearctic region, but Sahara, reaching northwards the tundra, India, Bangladesh and China up to Shanghai. One of the lines should have evolved from a strain of primitive species of Angarian origin (the present Eastern Siberia) getting up to the Coccinella septempunctata. The family of the Coccinellidae has appeared in the Secondary Era (Mesozoic). The most recent official systematic list, shows 24 species and subspecies, divided in 3 subgenera ( Chelonitis, Coccinellaand Spilota), all widely diffused in Europe. The genus Coccinellaincludes a large number of species well diffused in the Palearctic and Nearctic regions and similar genera are present in the Neotropical and Afrotropical regions.
In the other countries they are at times considered as lucky charms or have names with religious relevance, like Gallinella della Madonna in Italy Marienkäfer or Himmelskuchlichen in Germany Ladybug or Ladybird in England. The ladybugs are known in France with various nicknames such as Bête à bon Dieu, Bête à Dieu, Bête à Marie, Bête à Saint Jean, Bête à la Vierge, or “Vache à Dieu”. For what the specific name is concerned, septempunctata, is composed by the Latin terms “septem” = “seven” and “punctata” = spotted, due to the seven black spots on the two elytra. The name of the genus Coccinella is an adaptation of the Latin name “coccinella”, in its turn derived from the late Latin “coccinus” (adjective meaning scarlet), diminutive of “coccus” = red berry, with reference to the red colour of the elytra of many taxa of ladybugs. The Seven-spotted ladybug or Common ladybug ( Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus, 1758) is a coleopteran belonging to the family of the Coccinellidae and to the subfamily of the Coccinellinae, both classified by the French entomologist Pierre-André Latreille in 1807. The larvae of the Seven-spotted ladybug or Common ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) may eat, depending on the period of the year and the environment, 100-2000 aphids daily, whilst adults “content” of 100-200 victims © Giuseppe Mazza
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