Although adult C. kuwanae looks quite similar to a native species, the twice stabbed lady beetle, C. stigma , it can be distinguished by the color, shape and location of the spot on its wings. Spots of C. kuwanae tend to be deep red and rectangular, and located near the center of the wing. In contrast, spots of C. stigma tend to be more orange-yellow, round and oriented more toward the head of the beetle. Beetles spend the winter as adults in leaf litter at the base of scale-infested plants. They become active and feed on scales when temperatures exceed 50F in the spring.
Adults lay bright orange eggs, singly or in small groups under the scale covers.
Eggs hatch into brown larvae covered with black spines. Larvae will flip over or chew through scale covers to feed on the fleshy scale body. After 3 larval stages larvae move to the underside of a leaf or to a crack or crevice on a twig or branch. There they become immobile and the larval skins split to form pupae. In the laboratory it takes about a month to mature from egg to adult.