Ladybird bug

Steganocerus multipunctatus · Order: Hemiptera

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Ladybird bug
Photo: Tracy Robb, CC BY-SA 3.0

The ladybird bug is usually black with bright orange spots, but can also be brown without spots. It lives in Sub-Saharan Africa and is found on many native plants and cultivated crops such as cotton.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Adults are normally black with bright orange spots, though colour varies and some are brown without spots.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Ladybird bug photo 2
Photo: JMK, CC BY-SA
Ladybird bug photo 3
Photo: Karen Pagel, CC BY-SA
Ladybird bug photo 4
Photo: Karen Pagel, CC BY-SA
Ladybird bug photo 5
Photo: JMK, CC BY-SA

Questions people ask

What does the ladybird bug look like?

It is usually black with bright orange spots, but can also be brown and lack spots.

Source: Wikipedia

Where is the ladybird bug found?

It is native to Sub-Saharan Africa and lives on many native plants and crops like cotton.

Source: Wikipedia

What other bugs does it resemble?

It mimics the tortoise beetle *Chiridopsis suffriani* and the spider *Paraplectana thorntoni*.

Source: Wikipedia

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganocerus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.