Insect of the Day

[JRsbugs]

Originally Posted by Jason Claxton

AhI shall try and get another angle of C.magnifica,so you can see the hatchback rear,first I will have to find them,and the biggest challenge for me will be to take a decent photo

Thanks Jason, I did carefully compare the ordinary 7-spot as there was several huddled nearby in the centres of Chrysanthemum leaves. There was an obvious difference, I did this because I never thought I would see one as the name 'scarce' suggests they are scarce .

If I had known it would cause such a furore I would have lifted it down for a set of good shots, it was too high and mostly buried amongst the Ivy flower head to get proper angles.

Another strange thing is it did not join the rest of the 7-spots, I watched those gradually cluster together over a few days.

I thought I would upload a side view of an ordinary 7-spot, as well as a mating pair as obviously the female will be a little different to the male. Also a different angle of the suspect in the Ivy, which may not again be the best view.

Apologies to anyone getting bored with this..

[Jason Green]

Maybe these should be continued in a new thread?

[tristanba]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Maybe these should be continued in a new thread?

...or maybe gently laid to rest

[Jason Claxton]

Well,well,well I do still want to put a pic of the Scarce 7-spots "Hatchback rear " on though for educational purposes.I take it that my C.magnifica is o.k then?

[tristanba]

Do post a profile shot Jason, I think yours is much more convincing and presumably found on a site with abundant Formice rufa?

[Jason Claxton]

Yes squillions of F.rufa on this site TristanI'm surprised that you didn't say that the I.d was good, but the photo was bad though for mineCheers Jason.

[JRsbugs]

I'm wondering just how accurate the belief is that the wood ant has to be present. Adaption in species and all that. I found an article which states that of the two, Coccinella septempunctata and C. magnifica,

Only C. magnifica fed upon tended aphids

SpringerLink - Journal Article

There are ants tending aphids on the Ivy on the other side of the bridge, but they are Lasius niger as far as I know.

[Jason Green]

Janet, like my convincing case - I really do think yours is the standard Seven Spot. Firstly, there is no evidence of Wood Ants in your area. You've told us there is a woodland nearby, but as I'm sure you know there is no reason to believe it would harbour a Wood Ant colony. Even if it did, this is where you'd find C. magnifica, not a moderate distance away, I'm sure. Then, the ladybird depicted in your shots lacks the shoulder spots and the elytra should be blunter towards the rear. The main spots at the top are big, yes - just not sufficiently big enough IMO.

As with all insects, there's natural variation - I think these spots are just a little larger than normal, and not on it's own a reason to think it's magnifica. In fact, look at the three photos you posted of the standard Seven Spot - the topper-most spots of the second, middle one look comparable in size

Originally Posted by Jason Claxton

Yes squillions of F.rufa on this site TristanI'm surprised that you didn't say that the I.d was good, but the photo was bad though for mineCheers Jason.

I suppose he agreed with the ID, and didn't think he needed to confirm it

Please, can we continue this on another thread? This one really ought to be for the said subject - Insect of the Day, so I've even gone ahead and created one: The 'Scarce Seven Spotted Ladybird' Thread!

...please can we continue there?

[charlieb]

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

Charlie, I do take slight offence at your comments. It almost insinuates that I have gone out of my way, that is elsewhere, to get these pics!

Not what I was insinuating at all - I was saying that the first thing to come into question with "these sorts of records" is always the ability of the person who identified it.

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

As for your comments of the person identifying, I take it you did very well in the case of the case moth? Be careful who you accuse.

Not sure what you are trying to insinuate with that - in fact I haven't a clue

[charlieb]

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

No I didn't see white spots on this one Jason

Ummm???

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

Here's the one I took on 20th September which was sheltering in a bunch of grapes in my greenhouse. It has a shoulder mark.....and I can see a quite large white patch under the middle leg I think it is, quite unlikely to be glare as nothing else has shown glare there, I cropped this off the original but perhaps the original was better.

[rangersarah2]

To get away from 7-spot ladybirds, is it me, or are there more unusual ladybirds around this year. I seem to be coming across a lot of harlequins. One was black/white, but learnt from another post that it was probably juvenile. This week I saw another harlequin that was more black that red - beautiful.

[pressld2]

We should be in the quiet period for insects by now but there still seems to be quite a lot about, at least down here in the south-east corner of the UK.

My wife found a green shield bug while gardening and held on to him (or her - I can't tell ) until I got home. I didn't realise he was a green shield bug at first as he's not green. I didn't know they darken up and turn bronze before hibernating.

Had a nice little studio session with him before turfing him back out where he was found...



Dave P.

[Ukwildlifeo]

The hornet I found hibernating under a log today - been trying to photograph one for over 2 years

[pressld2]

Well? Where's the pic then?!

Dave P.

[Jason Green]

If I may back-date mine, it'll be the Kidney-spot Ladybird I saw on 18/11/2009. Certainly my favourite Coccinelid!

[Bruce Williams]

Ever since I came across Brian's (Lord V) beautiful Orange Ladybird in the Images library (not the Gallery) I've had a particular soft spot for this species. I love its large, camera-friendly black eyes and its semi-transparent pronotum - it's a beautiful soft orange colour too.

I also like the way the retracted head is still partly visible through the pronotum - well anyway it looks cute.

So I was pleased to find this one yesterday (Fri) climbing around the top of a wooden fence post (near ash and sycamore) at the reserve in Stony Stratford. Took lots of pics - here's two of them:



Bruce

[Jason Green]

An excellent shot Bruce! Feel free to add it to the Active Winter thread

[aeshna5]

A Painted Lady in Richmond Park! After being away last week + seeing so many large + glamorous butterflies it was nice to find a butterfly so late in the year back in blowy London.

[pressld2]

Super shots Bruce! I've only ever found one of these little beauties once but I agree with you - they are lovely little insects.

Dave P.

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Dave. This is my first sighting too although I have photographed the larva of the orange ladybird - also quite beautiful (for a ladybird larva anyway ).

Bruce

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

The hornet I found hibernating under a log today - been trying to photograph one for over 2 years

Originally Posted by pressld2

Well? Where's the pic then?!

Dave P.

here it is

[JRsbugs]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

here it is

Another mistaken Dolichovespula media queen.

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

Another mistaken Dolichovespula media queen.

Thnaks for the heads. I have to admit the 'browny-orangeyness' fooled me but I did think it was a little small, more the size of a hornet worker than a queen.

[pressld2]

First bumble bee of the year today (so time to resurrect this thread!) Don't know the species as it didn't settle but nice to see it anyway.

Dave P.

[nutmeg]

I saw my second small tortoiseshell of the year this morning (the first was last Sunday, but I forgot about this thread!).