Ladybird id

[dogsmercury]

Hi
could someone tell me whether these are harlequins or not?



someone at work described this one as looking like a "gone off tomato" because of the discolouration on one side lol

i seem to be lucky with ladybirds this year all of these were on the same tree! as was these 2 spotted


many thanks
Graham

[Jason Green]

Morning Graham,

The first are indeed typical Seven-spot Ladybirds. The second appears to be a recently-emerged - AKA teneral - Ten-spot Ladybird. Do you have a side-shot of the 'Gone-off tomato' one? What was the habitat? The last as you say are Two-spot Ladybirds with a fair bit of mating going on!

Take care,

Jason

[dogsmercury]

Sorry Jason
i haven't got a side shot of the tomato one, but i'll have a look for it again today when i go to work. if i find it again i'll take more shots. not sure what sort of tree it's on though, i found in on one of the trees on the grassy bank the entrance to the hospital!

thanks for the other info

Graham

[dogsmercury]

Right, i managed to find yesterday the "rotten tomato" one again and took a side shot:-



but when i compared the two photo's i found that yesterday's ladybird had the different coloured wing casing on the opposite side to the first one...... so could this be the result of a disease????

Graham

[Jason Green]

I would speculate that it may have emerged from a pupa last year that was damaged by frost, and then over-wintered. Paul Mabbott will have a better idea I'm sure.

[dogsmercury]

ok, thanks for that

[aeshna5]

I noticed yesterday 2 7-spots + a Harlequin attracted to the sweetness in flowers of Euphorbia characias in the garden. Haven't noticed any aphids yet though!

[dogsmercury]

actually thinking about it i've not seen any aphids either

[Jason Green]

...I have seen some purplish ones on a young sapling, and only a couple of occasions the rest of the year. I suppose the long winter/snow has pruned back numbers

[Paul mabbott]

Hurried comment - very busy, sorry.
There's been quite a bit of speculation about these discolourations - generally assumed that it's developmental: 'blood' (haemolymph) not reaching the elytron properly during emergence from the pupa. On this one you can see that the elytron is properly coloured over a small area of the elytron near the attachment:


On the other you can actually make out a 'crack' across the elytra. Sometimes the elytron won't open or is stuck open or bent all the stime.

However, you do get similar colouration when (a) a ladybird has been stuck out in wet conditions and (b) when the ladybird has a fungal infection due to Laboulbeniales - although in this condition you can usually see the yellow, powdery fungus itself.

Originally Posted by dogsmercury

Right, i managed to find yesterday the "rotten tomato" one again and took a side shot:-



but when i compared the two photo's i found that yesterday's ladybird had the different coloured wing casing on the opposite side to the first one...... so could this be the result of a disease????

Graham