- Head
- Each thoracic segment (pronotum, mesonotum, metanotum) has a pair of dorsal (tergal) plates
- Each abdominal segment has 6 lobes visible in dorsal view, 3 on each side (dorsal, dorso-lateral and lateral).
- Each lobe has a tergal plate with detailed armature, but for identification purposes, we will only need to refer to the lobes
It's best to identify larvae by first looking at the first and fourth abdominal segments, and the color patterns on the lobes. Next look at the other abdominal segments, and finally the pronotum, mesonotum, and metanotum. The descriptions in our pictoral key are not 'official' taxonomic terms, instead the descriptions represent the easy vocabulary that we use to identify species in the field.
What does your ladybird beetle larva look like?