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The Ladybird thread (1 Viewer)

First Ladybird of year in the office in Camberley this lunchtime (31 January!) crawling across the sun blinds. Unfortunately it appears to be the dreaded Harlequin: red/orange with 19 bold black spots. Matches pix on this thread anyway.

John
 
Yes, they never really stop! Quite numerous indoors in the SE this year ...
Farnboro John said:
First Ladybird of year in the office in Camberley this lunchtime (31 January!) crawling across the sun blinds. Unfortunately it appears to be the dreaded Harlequin: red/orange with 19 bold black spots. Matches pix on this thread anyway.
John
Click to expand...
 
paul mabbott said:
Yes, they never really stop! Quite numerous indoors in the SE this year ...
Click to expand...
And it's not just indoors - I've been out for my first serious walk since the holidays and saw lots of pine ladybirds (Exochomus quadripustulatus) including this mating pair. A lot of arboreal ladybirds become active on sunny days.

My apologies, while I'm here. The good folks on Bird Forum have given us a ladybird sticky since the Coccinellidae are amongst the most commonly asked after insects: this thread will hopefully become a good reference point for anyone with little rounded beetles!

I have promised to add a summary about ladybirds/Coccinellidae - have been too ill or too busy (or both) to do this but hope to get around to it over the weekend!
Happy New Year!
 

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Saw quite a few 7-spot ladybirds warming up in the sun today. This was around some local woodland and hedgerow areas.
 
Harlequin and other ladybirds

With regard to the various queries.
The current distribution of Harmonia axyridis, the 'harlequin' ladybird in UK can be seen as end of 2006 at http://www.harlequin-survey.org/

This and other ladybirds have become active indoors and outside during sunny periods. I was watching a group of 7-spots over several weeks since the winter solstice - they were sitting fully exposed but not moving on a twig of a bay hedge - started moving last weekend!
 
I recorded large numbers of harlequins (in the hundreds) heading for my house looking for overwintering sites late last year.
I've been seeing the odd one around the house throughout the winter. During the last two weeks the harlequins have been reappearing in increasing numbers and are probably preparing to head outside to start spreading again. I found nearly 30 of them indoors yesterday.
There seems to be a higher proportion of melanic forms than I'd seen in the wild, but this may be because they are less conspicuous on vegetation.
I'm planning to start my surveys earlier this year. I found 12 species within 200 metres of here last year and will be interested to see what turns up this year.
 
Could be that the melanics survive the winter better *or* that they become active earlier. This actually is observed with the 2-spot (Adalia bipunctata): the (mainly) black colouration absorbs heat better than the red so they become active earlier in the year - has selective advantage that the melanic males are all prepared when the females wake up!

Mis said:
There seems to be a higher proportion of melanic forms than I'd seen in the wild, but this may be because they are less conspicuous on vegetation.
I'm planning to start my surveys earlier this year. I found 12 species within 200 metres of here last year and will be interested to see what turns up this year.
Click to expand...
 
Many of them, particularly 7-spots + quite a few Harlequins. Have also seen in varying numbers from 1 -c100 of 2-spot, Scarce 7-spot (in wood ant nest), 10-spot, 16-spot, 22-spot, 24-spot, Pine, Orange, Cream-spotted + Striped Ladybirds.

Today just one 2-spot!
 
Harlequin

Euan Buchan said:
Anyone seen their first ladybird for 2007 yet?
Click to expand...
Hi Euan, I've seen other ladybirds this year but today found a harlequin in my garden.... hence reading this thread. Last year I found (and squashed) what I was sure was a harlequin ladybird but then went on to check on the internet and found that there was a professor somewhere (Cambridge?) who was asking for specimens to be sent to him. So this time I've kept it and all the sites and links I can find are closed down and nobody wants to know. Anybody out there who can tell me... should I just squash it?
 
roosmum said:
Hi Euan, I've seen other ladybirds this year but today found a harlequin in my garden.... hence reading this thread. Last year I found (and squashed) what I was sure was a harlequin ladybird but then went on to check on the internet and found that there was a professor somewhere (Cambridge?) who was asking for specimens to be sent to him. So this time I've kept it and all the sites and links I can find are closed down and nobody wants to know. Anybody out there who can tell me... should I just squash it?
Click to expand...

Michael Majerus is the professor you mean. Personally given how widespread Harlequins are now it seems a little futile squashing it as it'll make no real difference whatsoever. They're here to stay now- just hope they don't cause as much havoc here as in US!
 
I had a look for ladybirds today. The first orange ladybirds are appearing here now as the sycamore leaves develop. I saw a single cream-spot on sycamore as well. There are plenty of pine ladybirds on ash trunks, many mating. I also found a few kidney-spot ladybirds on ash and alder, and what I believe to be Rhizobius litura on ash. A couple of 7-spots and a solitary harlequin.
I know there will be many more harlequins out there though if last year's experience is repeated.
 
The surveys are still going - http://www.harlequin-survey.org/
By and large, if people are certain that they have Harmonia axyridis then there is no need to send samples (pictures are just as good).
When the haxy first arrived, there was (small) hope that they might be caught and eliminated - thus the request to receive samples. On the other hand, *many* of the specimens received were *not* 'harlequins', so many innocent ladybirds were saved ....

As Aeshna says - there are so many about now that killing them is rather futile. However, records are still wanted - of the invader and of native species so that we can determine what effect the invasion has had, or not ....

roosmum said:
Hi Euan, I've seen other ladybirds this year but today found a harlequin in my garden.... hence reading this thread. Last year I found (and squashed) what I was sure was a harlequin ladybird but then went on to check on the internet and found that there was a professor somewhere (Cambridge?) who was asking for specimens to be sent to him. So this time I've kept it and all the sites and links I can find are closed down and nobody wants to know. Anybody out there who can tell me... should I just squash it?
Click to expand...
 
I was beating a few branches of some yew trees this afternoon (just to see what fell out really) and was surprised to find nearly 40 pine ladybirds and several orange ladybirds. I haven't seen yew mentioned as a likely place to find them. Is this normal or are they moving to additional 'hosts'?
 
Mis said:
I was beating a few branches of some yew trees this afternoon (just to see what fell out really) and was surprised to find nearly 40 pine ladybirds and several orange ladybirds. I haven't seen yew mentioned as a likely place to find them. Is this normal or are they moving to additional 'hosts'?
Click to expand...
Quite possible although they might just be using the yew for a nice thick shelter.
The orange can be found anywhere that there's mildew so yew is as good as anywhere.
Given the previous history of the pine ladybird in prey-switching (given in some detail by Roger Hawkins) then it's quite possible that it has found some "new" prey. Okay, that rang a bell, so I've just had a look in Hawkins and he mentions (p54) pine ladybird feeding on Parthenolecanium pomericanicum (P. taxi) a scale insect of yew!
Cheers, Paul
 
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.
 

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