Every year more numerous, this pest is endangering the native species of ladybird.They can show different patterns or dimensions so that is not easy to identify them.From wikipedia:"It occurs in three main color forms: red or orange with black spots (known as form succinea); black with four red spots (form spectabilis); and black with two red spots (form conspicua)."London, UK
Will play dead when agitated. Larvae and adults feed on aphids. Nine spots on each wing. Red and black in color. Found on the grounds of Berry City Park located in Lemon Grove, CA (32.731548, -117.045799). This observation is part of the High Tech High Insects of San Diego Field Guide.
A harlequin ladybird and eggs, found at Richmond Common. The tree had many egg clusters which were mainly under the leaves, with much fewer on the bark.
One day in October 2007, I picked up a ladybird beetle pupa that was yellow instead of red. Later that night it was orange with black spots, and I wondered if I'd imagined it. (The yellow is especially surprising in light of the fact that larvae are primarily black.) A few days later, I captured a larva as it started to pupate. Assembled from the individual images, this montage shows how the lady beetle pupa changes color in the first few hours.