Pine ladybird ?

[Lord V]

Think this is a pine ladybird-, my first ladybird shots of 2008 - taken yesterday about 4mm body length - actually found it on an echium leaf.

Brian V.

[matt_xyz]

Hi Brian,

Yes, I'm almost certain this is a Pine Ladybird. Nice shots.

Matt

[Dogghound]

Yes Correct it is indeed Exochomus quadripustulatus. Great shots. Ive found afew myself lately, infact probrably the most dominant around here. Often found away from pines in my experience.

[The Black Rabbit]

It surely is!
We've been seeing a few in the warmer weather (gone).
Allegedly they are pretty adaptable wee things, feeding on scale insects from urban lime trees, ash and pine to name but three.
They seem to appear early in the year, and can mate in February.
The giveaway with the Pine Ladybird is its "rim" round is elytra.
Some say the front red markings look like a comma, I think both look like a duck watching a feather float down, but then again, I'm strange like that...

VERY nice photographs by the way.

My Pine Ladybirds don't sit still for long.
Thats another thing with Pine Ladybirds - disturb them and they often clamp down onto whatever surface they are on - unlike many other species, which fly away...

Doug

[Paul mabbott]

They are one of the most consistently abundant species seen during the winter. Commonly they don't hide away at all although they creep into the cracks of bark or under the flakes in the case of sycamores.
If they're exposed to direct sunlight they quickly absorbed radiant heat and become very active.

A couple of days ago there were several running around while others, such as this one were inactive and 'hiding'!



The shape and number of the spots separates the pine from related chilocorines (kigney-spot and heather ladybirds). The melanic 2-spot may be mistaken for a pine although, as Black Rabbit has noted, pines have a flange around the elytral edge and they are somewhat rounder. The more obvious feature is that the fore markings never reach the edge of the elytra whereas they always do in the case of the melanic 2-spot.

Another interesting thing about the ladybird pictured is that its red markings are very reduced. This seems to be an increasingly common phenomenon - I've had specimens where red was invisible to the naked eye but two tiny, weak spots could be seen with a lens. I see this more often in Sheffield than London .... wonder if anyone else observes it?

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

Another interesting thing about the ladybird pictured is that its red markings are very reduced. This seems to be an increasingly common phenomenon - I've had specimens where red was invisible to the naked eye but two tiny, weak spots could be seen with a lens. I see this more often in Sheffield than London .... wonder if anyone else observes it?

About 1 in 40 (rough figure) specimens seem to show this trait in my area. Something i had noticed but just thought it was individual colouration and not a national trend.

[Pudding4brains]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

About 1 in 40 (rough figure) specimens seem to show this trait in my area.

Haven't seen those around here ... but while reading the topic I couldn't help thinking about all the very dark Harlequins that last fall produced (supposedly weather related). Could it be that the weird temperatures/changes of last fall also had a similar influence on the Pine Ladybirds? Or did you find the "almost black" ones earlier in the year too?

Cheers!
Arp

[Dogghound]

I dont think temperature would be the cause, as these Exochomus quadripustulatus only have a small amount of reduced colour compared to their overall surface area. The idea of black ladybirds being more active is due to black being more heat absorbant so in colder weather they are warmer than an average seven spot for example. Ive never looked into when i see these individuals with reduced markings as i thought little of it until paul mentioned it but i will make a note this year. All the individuals ive seen this year have been normal so far.

Its Holland you live isnt it? I arnt to sure on the abundance of pine over there, they like to feed on coccids on pines (needled), their also abundant on ash and birch. Also my personal favourite is gorse heath, i must mind more in this sort of habitat than anywere else.

[Pudding4brains]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

I dont think temperature would be the cause, as these Exochomus quadripustulatus only have a small amount of reduced colour compared to their overall surface area. ... Its Holland you live isnt it?

Yes, I live in the Netherlands, but I wasn't talking about the Pine Ladybird as such, but about the ones with almost no red at all on them mentioned above - sorry that I didn't state that clearly enough.

Exo.qua. or as some/many seem to prefer lately Brumus q. is quite abundant here too -I'd say somewhere in the top 10 maybe even top 5, and hardly (not at all?) dependent on Pine - I would almost tend to say "generalists" really, but I'm even worse with plants and trees than I am with little critters, so some patterns might go unnoticed

The almost entirely black ones I have not seen however and as Tan suggested in his work on "Mosaic inheritance" of the Harlequin that someone else had suggested that the duration of the pupa-period is a large factor in determination of the size of the black coloured parts, and this durations in turn is dependent on temperature and air moisture it is quite explicable that we had so many very, very black Harelquins last year. So, the question/suggestion was if maybe the very, very black Pine Lbs could be due the same principle. Having the dark ones basically in fall and not in spring could maybe support that, but if you have them all year 'round it might be some other (genetic?) aberration??

Hope that states my line of thought a bit better
Cheers
Arp

[Lord V]

Can only say that all the pics I have of these over the last few years show remarkably consistent colour patterns but they are all from my garden.

Hopefully you will allow these to be linked.

Sept 2006


Mar 2006


Jan 2007


Mar 2007


Nov 2007


Apr 2006