As ladybirds were further studied, it was transferred to the genus Calvia which was erected in 1873 by the French entomologist Étienne Mulsant.

The latter is usually found on pine trees and is smaller and a paler brown colour and has a characteristic M-shaped white mark on its pronotum.

In Europe the species is consistently maroon-brown with fourteen cream-coloured spots, but in North America and parts of eastern temperate Asia it occurs in several other colour forms.

It may be black with white spots (similar to the European form but darker), or anywhere from yellow to pink with 18 large blotches.

The Palearctic range is Europe, North Africa, Cyprus, European Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Russian Far East, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, western Asia, Pakistan, Mongolia, China, and Japan.