Horseshoe Ladybird Clitostethus arcuatus
This was a very elusive species when I first started looking for inconspicuous ladybirds and it took me a long time before I found my first.
It is now a species I see fairly regularly and the number of national records has increased as well. This is largely due to a much better understanding of the habitat requirements of Horseshoe Ladybird.
The important bit of knowledge is this species association with whitefly Aleyrodidae.
Greater Celandine Chelidonium majus is an important host during the spring and summer, when whitefly is present.
Later in the year Horseshoe Ladybirds can move on to other plants with whitefly populations, including Ash, Honeysuckle and sometimes evergreen garden shrubs.
The main wintering sites include ivy and sometimes holly.
Identification Length 1.2-1.5mm
This is a variable species, some are mostly brown and cream, whilst others are mostly black.
The distinctive and diagnostic feature is a pale horseshoe mark on the wing cases.
This is often broken or slimmer in the middle and bulges towards the ends.
This mark also resembles an archer's bow or in a modern context a pair of headphones.
There is often a hint of a second paler arc at the rear of the wing cases, similar to a double rainbow.
This is a very tiny species, equal in size to Dot ladybird, which makes it difficult to find.
The brown and cream individuals are likely to be males.
The wing cases are typically a dark brown with a paler brown pronotum and cream face and cream cheeks (pronotum sides).
The legs are pale and the horseshoe mark is also a pale cream.
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Presumed male with cream face Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
The darkest individuals are likely to be female.
The wing cases are blackish and with the naked eye look very like Dot Ladybirds.
Checking photos or using an eye lens will show the horseshoe markings as well as variable pale cheeks (edges of the pronotum).
Some dark individuals have a reddish tint to the legs and also have a reddish tip to the abdomen.
Presumed female with dark face Whitewebbs, Middlesex
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Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
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Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Photo by Mark Hows
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
Very pale but with dark centres to horseshoe mark Upshire, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
Whitewebbs, Middlesex
Reddish tip to abdomen Whitewebbs, Middlesex
The pale coloured legs and pale front contrast with the dark abdomen when viewed from underneath. There is usually a faint pale tip to the rear abdomen.
On the lightest individuals these pale markings are cream coloured but on the darkest individuals they have a reddish tint.
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Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
With two Dot Ladybirds
With Arboreal Ladybird
With Arboreal Ladybird
With Arboreal Ladybird
With Harlequin Ladybird
With Green Shieldbug
Cornmill Meadows, North Essex
Extremely small and easy to overlook Whitewebbs, Middlesex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Cornmill, Lee Valley, North Essex
Waltham Abbey, North Essex
Almost tucked out of sight in umbrella, easy to overlook.
With Arboreal Ladybird.
The immature stages are quite distinctive and can sometimes be found on Greater Celandine. I did not find my first until 2025 but Greater Celandine is fairly scarce in my local area, but can be quite abundant in some urban areas.
The larvae are very pale, a clean white with a double row of grey or blackish spots along the central line.
Larva on Greater Celandine Waltham Abbey, North Essex
Larva on Greater Celandine Waltham Abbey, North Essex
The pupa are also white with a dark central patch and faint dark flecks along the edges.
Pupa on Greater Celandine Waltham Abbey, North Essex
Habitat
The majority of my records have come from ivy covered tree trunks in woodland locations. This is often reported to be a wintering habitat.
As of 2025 my records from ivy have been found in the following months:
January two
February two
March eight
August one
September two
and October two.
Many locations are in shaded areas of woodland, including two sites were I have found Horseshoe Ladybirds in more than one year.
Other sites are more exposed and open.
Regular wintering location Fishers Green, North Essex
Ivy on fallen tree trunk in shaded woodland
Regular wintering location Fishers Green, North Essex
Ivy on fallen tree trunk in shaded woodland
Ivy covered tree trunk Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Ivy covered tree trunk Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Ivy covered hedge Upshire, North Essex
Ivy covered fence
Flash Lane Aqueduct, Whitewebbs, Middlesex
Ivy covered tree trunk Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Ivy covered tree trunk Cornmill, Lee Valley, North Essex
Ivy covered tree trunk Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
One reliable way to locate Horseshoe Ladybirds is to search Greater Celandine Chelidonium majus which have an infestation of Brassica Whitefly Aleyrodes proletella.
I do not see Greater Celandine very often but in some areas it can be a quite common plant of urban areas. It wasn't until 2025 that I found my first plant with whitefly and turning over the leaves and searching by eye I quickly found adults, larvae and pupae.
Waltham Abbey, North Essex
Waltham Abbey, North Essex
Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire
Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire
Whitefly on underside of Greater Celandine leaf
Horseshoe Ladybird on underside of Greater Celandine leaf
In 2023 I found a Horseshoe Ladybird in a Euonymus shrub. I have not heard of others finding them in this habitat but I find this shrub very productive for a range of inconspicuous ladybird species.
Potted Euonymus shrub Upshire, North Essex
Horseshoe Ladybird has also been reported from Ash that has been infested with whitefly.
In August 2019 Mark Hows and I travelled to Royal Tunbridge Wells to search for Horseshoe Ladybirds that had been reported on Ash in a wooded area of a park. We did locate an area of Ash trees with whitefly but failed to find the hoped for ladybirds on this occasion.
Ash trees Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Whitefly on Ash Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Look-alike Species
When seen well Horseshoe Ladybird is unlikely to be confused with other inconspicuous ladybirds, except Dot Ladybird which shares the same tiny size.
However when searching for this species in typical habitat with a beating tray it is common to find numerous small early instar true bugs. Whilst these are a very different shape, many of them are the same size and cream and brown colour as paler Horseshoe Ladybirds.
Care needs to be taken not to overlook Horseshoe Ladybirds amongst these.
Early instar bug with similar colouring to Horseshoe Ladybird
Additional Images
In September 2022, I tapped a regular Ivy-covered hedge in Upshire, Essex and found lots of inconspicuous ladybirds. I spent several minutes photographing and counting Dot and Ivy Ladybirds. I looked carefully for Horseshoe Ladybird as I had seen one previously in this spot and was targeting this species but failed to find any.
Later at home I was editing the photos and was stunned to see a slightly out of focus Horseshoe Ladybird in the back of shot with a Dot Ladybird.
This shows how easy it is to overlook this tiny and subtle species.
An overlooked Horseshoe Ladybird with Dot Ladybird
I was able to return two days later and I retapped the bit of hedge where I had returned the mixed group of ladybirds and remarkably found another, or probably the same Horsehoe Ladybird and was able to get a good series of photographs.
Upshire, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
In September 2022 I found a very dark individual at Fishers Green, North Essex.
I was photographing an Epaulet Ladybird in my umbrella having just beaten some Ivy growing on a tree trunk.
Whilst doing this I became aware of a tiny beetle nearby.
I thought it looked like a Dot Ladybird, but it seemed rather elongate. It was walking like a ladybird, but I was still not sure what it was. I took its photo and saw on my camara monitor an all-dark Horseshoe Ladybird, with a clear and distinctive horseshoe mark.
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
In January 2023 I found another dark individual, probably female, at Fishers Green, Essex.
Beaten from Ivy, I also mistook this for a Dot Ladybird, until checking the photos on my camera.
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Pale orange legs Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
In January 2023 I tapped a pale, presumed male, from a potted Euonymus shrub in an Upshire garden, North Essex.
Upshire, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
In February 2023 I found another two in Ivy, one at Cornmill Tree Park and another at Fishers Green, North Essex.
Cornmill Tree Park, Lee Valley, North Essex
Cornmill Tree Park, Lee Valley, North Essex
Cornmill Tree Park, Lee Valley, North Essex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
In August 2023 I tapped another one from Ivy in an Upshire garden, North Essex
Upshire, North Essex
In March 2025 I found two Horseshoe Ladybirds in Ivy at Fishers Green, Essex alongside several Orange Ladybirds
Two with Orange Ladybird
With Orange Ladybird
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Fishers Green, Lee Valley, North Essex
Aug 2025 On Greater Celandine Waltham Abbey, Essex
Aug 2025 On Greater Celandine Waltham Abbey, Essex
Aug 2025 On Greater Celandine Waltham Cross, Herts
