Description
Harmonia axyridis is a "typical" coccinellid beetle in shape and structure, being domed and having a "smooth" transition between its elytra (wing coverings), pronotum and head. 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). However, numerous intermediate and divergent forms have also been recorded. The beetle is typically large for a coccinellid (7–8 mm long) and even more dome-shaped than native European species. These characteristics distinguish H. axyridis from native species in the UK.
A useful informal clue for distinguishing this species from most other Coccinellidae is that the pronotum of most colour forms of Harmonia axyridis have white markings that typically define an "M"-shaped black area, as seen on a beetle resting head-upwards (or "W"-shaped if it is head-down). Usually they also have brown or reddish legs.
Read more about this topic: Harmonia Axyridis
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“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)