Who knew that the spots on a ladybug’s shell were water-soluble? That seems to be the case with this ladybug, who has only one remaining spot and a few drops of water, perhaps where other spots used to be.
Spotless ladybug–well almost spotless
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
How unusual. And how many spots will her offspring have I wonder?
Ladybug genetics are way beyond my area of expertise. I don’t know if “spottedness” is genetically predetermined.
Mike,
They washed onto the stem! 😉
It’s a very pretty shot.
~Kyle
That’s really odd.
I guess I’ll have to study ladybugs more to figure out how unusual it is not to have spots. It certainly is odd in my limited experience.
This is new to me, too, Mike. I’m sending a link to your post to my secret entomolotist buddy who helps me with taxonomy issues–maybe she can help to shed some light on this apparent conundrum. I’ll let you know what she says.