As it was a sunny day I did a bit of tidying in the shed at Filnore Woods. " What's this mucky old bit of cardboard?" I wondered and behold - a host of spotty ladybirds. They must have been hibernating in the shed.
Looking closely, I could see they were very variable, including one black one with red spots. What a jolly spring sight. But just a minute! I think maybe these are harlequin ladybirds, a recent (2004) arrival in the UK and not altogether welcome as they eat almost any other insects including our native ladybirds (43 species).
They were relatively large , greater than 5mm long, and had that pair of curved white marks on the pronotum, the black bit between the red and black elytra and the tiny black head. These are characteristics of the Harlequin. But I'm not quite sure. Can anyone help?
Anyway they quickly disappeared. I didn't see anyone fly off but the cardboard was soon almost deserted again.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I just love getting comments so go ahead.