Some kind of beetle

[Flycanoe]

Found these beetles yesterday that look like lady bug with a different color wing and a red stomach. The 2nd picture shows the coloring of the stomach. Are they immature lady bugs or something else?

[dtp916]

Aren't those the beetles that carry the Ebola virus from Africa????

[David Lee]

This is David's wife.

I went to school for horticulture, but I have never seen a beetle like this. It does resemble a ladybug (http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/benefi...dy_beetles.htm), but it is not any beetle I could fine online.

I would forward the picture to a college in your area or Davis. These are real interesting - and not in any of my books!!

I can tell you that they gather like that when they are mating. I would watch for leaf or flower damage to see if they are a potential pest, but they may eat like the ladybug and other such beetles, which would be good.

Let's us know if you find out what they are. We are gardener's and would like to be on the look out for these!

[Ed Wahl]

Couldn't find the excact one but it's gotta be a type of Ladybird(ladybug) beetle. You can send a pic to this site and they'll look it up for you. http://www.whatsthatbug.com/lady.html

[Flycanoe]

Thanks for the replies and helpful links.

Well today the ladies attracted some suitors that are somewhat similar in appearance but bigger.

[Kevin Goding]

Not beetles, those are immature harlequin bugs. A type of stinkbug, but those ones there rarely hit you with stink unless you smash them, pretty docile. Order Hemiptera, true bugs. Immature beetles are always grub like things for the most part (few exceptions). The immatures tend to feed together for safety, and emmit aggregation pheromones.