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The Ladybird thread (2 Viewers)

JonnyCarrick said:
Could anyone tell me what this ladybird is. I've never seen one with a grid pattern before, and couldn't find it in an identification guide, so i was interested to know.
This is one of those confusing 10-spots Adalia decempunctata which is very distinctive once you've seen it. It's the decempustulata variant which can be quite common at this time of year ( one in ten of ten-spots?). Even more confusing, sometimes the red colour doesn't develope and you have yellow-orange patches ....
As with most ladybirds, the forebody pattern is often more consistent than that on the hindbody ....
PS: I see mis has already replied - yes the 'chequered' form is another description for it ....
 
paul mabbott said:
This is one of those confusing 10-spots Adalia decempunctata which is very distinctive once you've seen it. It's the decempustulata variant which can be quite common at this time of year ( one in ten of ten-spots?). Even more confusing, sometimes the red colour doesn't develope and you have yellow-orange patches ....
As with most ladybirds, the forebody pattern is often more consistent than that on the hindbody ....
PS: I see mis has already replied - yes the 'chequered' form is another description for it ....

Thanks for all the info Paul. It's great to know what that Ladybird was, as I wasn't really sure.
 
I found this harlequin this morning. It has a damaged left elytron and wing and was unable to fly. It may have overwintered in this condition and was within 50cm of an air brick where it may have sheltered. The damage could have occurred when the ladybird emerged from the pupa or may have happened subsequently. There's a hole in the elytron.

The right wing could be retracted normally.

I took the photos when it had climbed to the tip of a daffodil leaf and was trying to fly off.
 

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Had a walk round a local wood at the weekend & beat Cream-spot, Orange, Pine & 14-spot Ladybirds all from Hawthorn, presumably because it comes into leaf earlier than the surrounding trees these ladybirds find more food here.

Stuart.
 

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Exactly and there are quite a lot of aphids about already in some places. Interesting, though, to hear about the Pine - this is a scale eater and I'm not aware of any scales on hawthorn.
Incidentally is your hawthorn in flower yet? Rather early but apparently happening in some southern areas. Flowering hawthorn is a wonderful attractant to many beetles (and other insects) ....

Stuart Read said:
Had a walk round a local wood at the weekend & beat Cream-spot, Orange, Pine & 14-spot Ladybirds all from Hawthorn, presumably because it comes into leaf earlier than the surrounding trees these ladybirds find more food here.
Stuart.
 
I suspect that it's developmental. These things aren't uncommon (given the complexity of complete metamorphosis, it's a wonder they'r not more so) - http://www.ladybird-survey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/deformity.htm
However. such things do seem to be more common in large masses of 'harlequins' so perhaps they do get interfered with while emerging or while their skins are hardening?

Mis said:
I found this harlequin this morning. It has a damaged left elytron and wing and was unable to fly. It may have overwintered in this condition and was within 50cm of an air brick where it may have sheltered. The damage could have occurred when the ladybird emerged from the pupa or may have happened subsequently. There's a hole in the elytron.
The right wing could be retracted normally.
I took the photos when it had climbed to the tip of a daffodil leaf and was trying to fly off.
 
paul mabbott said:
Exactly and there are quite a lot of aphids about already in some places. Interesting, though, to hear about the Pine - this is a scale eater and I'm not aware of any scales on hawthorn.
Incidentally is your hawthorn in flower yet? Rather early but apparently happening in some southern areas. Flowering hawthorn is a wonderful attractant to many beetles (and other insects) ....

No the hawthorn wasn't flowering just in leaf, but in the more open areas there will be some in flower very soon.

Stuart.
 
paul mabbott said:
Incidentally is your hawthorn in flower yet? Rather early but apparently happening in some southern areas. Flowering hawthorn is a wonderful attractant to many beetles (and other insects) ....

Hawthorn is flowering around Harpenden (Herts) also (relatively) early are the bird cherry & the oilseed rape.
I've also noticed an unusual abundance of dog (? I think) violet in this area this year.
 
I saw a 7-spot ladybird on a foxglove leaf this morning which appeared to be attached to a greyish pad. I've been looking at a number of sites and think it has been parasitised by Dinocampus coccinellae, and the object beneath the ladybird is a pupa.

Is it possible to keep the leaf in a jar of water or damp sand until the wasp emerges?

(I found a pine ladybird on hawthorn here at the weekend.)
 

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Yes, that's what it looks like. Indeed, you can keep it and check for emergence - I think you don't need to keep the leaf in water &c (they often do this on bark or other hard substrates) but probably a bit of moisture in the atmosphere would not be a bad thing - when I've done this I used to go too far in the other direction, making the atmosphere too moist so that fungus grew over everything.
The parasitoid is most likely to be D. (Perileptus) coccinellae but it's always worth checking out - I can (off-forum) tell you who might want your specimen! A most interesting thing would be to see how this parasitoid interacts with Harmonia axyridis - two cases so far, I think but would expect a lot more if the parasitoid is going to control the population of the 'harlequin' ....


I saw a 7-spot ladybird on a foxglove leaf this morning which appeared to be attached to a greyish pad. I've been looking at a number of sites and think it has been parasitised by Dinocampus coccinellae, and the object beneath the ladybird is a pupa.

Is it possible to keep the leaf in a jar of water or damp sand until the wasp emerges?

(I found a pine ladybird on hawthorn here at the weekend.)
 
Please help identify this ladybird

While walking on the Purbecks overlooking the sea on Sunday we came across so many ladybirds as well as flies and bugs. On one tiny patch of elder were 5 or 6 different species of ladybird, three of which I photographed (not very well, sorry).
http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u166/cetti/ladybirds/

I think the first one might be a cream-streaked ladybird which, according to my book has "a preference for areas with mature Scots Pine". The purbeck clifftops are not noted for their trees, much less pines, so could this ladybird have migrated or is this a different ladybird? I think the other two are an eyed ladybird and a 10 spot.
 
I think No.1 is a cream streaked ladybird, Harmonia quadripunctata. It's the form with just the four outer spots being black.
No.2 is an eyed ladybird, Anatis ocellata.
No.3 looks like the chequered form of the 10 spot ladybird, Adalia decempunctata, with a soldier beetle (possibly Cantharis rustica, although there are similar species).
 
I think No.1 is a cream streaked ladybird, Harmonia quadripunctata. It's the form with just the four outer spots being black.
No.2 is an eyed ladybird, Anatis ocellata.
No.3 looks like the chequered form of the 10 spot ladybird, Adalia decempunctata, with a soldier beetle (possibly Cantharis rustica, although there are similar species).
Yes. Both the eyed and th cream-streaked prefer conifers and the eyed is seldom seen away from pine trees - doesn't need to be Scots pine may, for instance, be Pinus mugo, the dwarf Mediterranean pine which is widely planted. The cream-streaked does prefer conifers but is seen quite often on deciduous trees.
 
I posted a photo of a 7-spot ladybird attached to the cocoon of a parasitic wasp a few days ago. The wasp emerged today and here is a picture of it.
 

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I posted a photo of a 7-spot ladybird attached to the cocoon of a parasitic wasp a few days ago. The wasp emerged today and here is a picture of it.
Nice work. It looks like Dinocampus (Perileptus) coccinellae http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag....microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/art98/ladybird.html but there's no way I can confirm this from a picture. If you're really keen, you might ask people at the Ladybird Survey or
ask Mark Shaw who is the British expert - I can give you his e-mail address off-group if you wish.
Well done. This is a fascinating area where you can find out lots of interesting things for very little investment of energy! You may even discover a new species ....
 
Just been down to my car, and increased my Ladybird Life List to (count 'em) four!

My first new ladybird since forever... I found an Adonis' Ladybird crawling on the car-roof.

Nice!
 
We all have to start at zero!
Hippodamia (Adonia) variegata, the Adonis' ladybird, is quite fascinating and we really have little information on its behaviour/life habits. It will appear in ruderal sites, achieve quite large numbers and then disappear.........
You may have found the answer - they're just waiting for the next car to take them away to pastures new??????
Cheers, Paul
PS: up here in the wilds we simply don't see too many species of ladybird (same applies to most beetles and other insects) - nothing like the numbers of individuals or species that you see a hundred miles to the south but one place to look is on trees, especially conifers, and especially urban trees ....

Just been down to my car, and increased my Ladybird Life List to (count 'em) four!

My first new ladybird since forever... I found an Adonis' Ladybird crawling on the car-roof.

Nice!
 
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I posted a photo of a 7-spot ladybird attached to the cocoon of a parasitic wasp a few days ago. The wasp emerged today and here is a picture of it.

Just goes to show that even dead insects can spring surprises. I recently received a dead bumblebee that a lady had picked up in order to draw it, she kept it in a jar for a few weeks and when she got round to looking again found a fly in there too. The fly was Sicus ferrugineus, a common parasite of bumblebees, but still nice to see.
 
I know that some people like adding to the "British List" as twitchers like ticking off checklists ;) and there are worse things to do.....
... so I might suggest that if you want to add species to the British list, your best chance lays with rearing parasitoids - dipteran or hymenopteran - from infested insects or plants. There are so many of them: every plant and invertebrate animal species probably has at least one parasitoid (more likely three or six) and these parasitoids have their own parasitoids (I don't know if it goes any further .... ) - so many of these will not have been recorded in UK. Indeed, the best chance of finding an absolutely *new* species, without going to the tropics, is to rear a parasitoid! And it does't involve any complex or expensive equipment, doesn't take a lot of time .... &c &c ....

Just goes to show that even dead insects can spring surprises. I recently received a dead bumblebee that a lady had picked up in order to draw it, she kept it in a jar for a few weeks and when she got round to looking again found a fly in there too. The fly was Sicus ferrugineus, a common parasite of bumblebees, but still nice to see.
 
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I found some ladybirds in my garden today (mostly on privet I think). I think they are harlequin, orange and ? seven-spot but if any of you experts could confirm or correct, I'd be grateful.
Ken
 

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