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| 1 | 2 |  » Stats |
Members: 50,150
Threads: 82,332
Posts: 853,178
Top Poster: glsammy (15,069)
| | Welcome to our newest member, RichardB | |  | 
19-06-2010, 05:09 PM
|  | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Posts: 443
| | | Odd ladybird
Hi can anyone tell me what has caused the discolouration of this ladybird's wing case? It was in my garden happily crawling over the comfrey...  |
19-06-2010, 05:49 PM
|  | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Sheffield, FPRSY
Posts: 7,655
| | | Re: Odd ladybird
We get these odd 'discoloured' elytra every now and then. They can go as far as one whole elytron being darkened; there are several examples in the Gallery.
The general consensus is that the colouration stems from damage or deformation during eclosure - when the ladybird imago is emerging from the pupa the elytron may be bent, twisted or have its 'blood' supply cut off. After emergence from the pupa a ladybird, like all winged insects, needs some time to stretch its wings (and elytra, in the case of beetles), blow them up to full size, allow them to set into the proper shape and to develop colour and patterns. It doesn't take much to interfere with any of these processes: a wing gets stuck in the pupa &c ..... |
19-06-2010, 05:52 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,658
| | | Re: Odd ladybird
Judging from the shape of the wing cases it's a harlequin. They have slightly protruding, er, rear ends. Indigenous ladybugs are nearly perfectly oval.
STYRBJORN |
19-06-2010, 06:03 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Lincolnshire
Posts: 1,416
| | | Re: Odd ladybird
STYRBJORN, it's a 7-spot.  |
19-06-2010, 07:03 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Basingstoke, Hampshire
Posts: 443
| | | Re: Odd ladybird
Thanks for the detailed reply, I hoped it was something like that and not viral &c.
Thanks for also corroborating my belief that it was a 7-spot; our garden is free (insofar as I can tell  ) of harlequins although there is a huge number of them where I work... |
20-06-2010, 10:14 AM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,658
| | | Re: Odd ladybird
Quote:
Originally Posted by nutmeg  STYRBJORN, it's a 7-spot. | Thanks for that. I guess that with all the 'quins round here I tend to get paranoid about them!
STYRBJORN | | |
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