Harmonia axyridis is a large coccinellid beetle. Its colour ranges from yellow-orange to black, and the number of spots between none and 22. It is native to eastern Asia, but has been artificially introduced to North America and Europe to control aphids and scale insects. It is now common, well known, and spreading in those regions, and has also established in South Africa and widely across South America.
It is commonly known as the harlequin ladybird (because it occurs in numerous colour forms). It is also known in North America as the multicolored Asian lady beetle, and (because it invades homes in October in preparation for overwintering) as Halloween lady beetle. In Japan, it is not generally distinguished from the seven-spot ladybird which is also common there.
When the species first arrived in the UK, it was labelled in jest as "the many-named ladybird", because among the names listed were: multivariate, southern, Japanese, and pumpkin ladybird.
Los Angeles. California.
