Clitostethus arcuatus (Horseshoe Ladybird?)

[Wild-Woman]

Never heard of this ladybird until today, so I hope the mods don't mind me attaching the link so that we can all keep an eye out for it in the future.

Interesting. I don't think the common name has been agreed yet, hence the brackets in the title.

http://www.thewcg.org.uk/coccinellidae/0529.htm

Ps perhaps Paul M can add more info?

[poschiavanus]

There's quite a lot about it in Ladybirds of Surrey.

Apparently it feeds on White Fly Aleyrodidae, but has usually been found by beating Ivy. A couple of records of feeding indicated association with the popular garden shrub Laurustinus (Viburnum tinus) and Honeysuckle.

I noted a couple of colonies of the Honeysuckle White Fly whilst on the WAB fungus foray at Clumber Park earlier in the month: so these may be worth investigating. There is a recent paper on the white fly of Bedfordshire available on the BNHS site, which gives some idea of the British List. I plan a post in the near future about these (and other) lesser known Hemiptera.

There a lot of photos on Flickr, including many from a Lincoln based naturalist Mick E. Talbot. Also there is a very thorough paper written by Iranian scientists published in Insect Science vol 10 and available here. (There is still a lot of traditional economic entomology done in universities in places like Turkey and Iran).

Good Hunting.

[Klaas Reißmann]

Hi there,

all I can tell is, you can find it in Ivy (Hedera spec.). Easiest way is by using a beating. But it is not easy to find. It is a very small beetle and it does not appear everywhere you can find Ivy. It prefers the solitary trees or the border of a wood, because it is loving warmth and even looking at those sides will not bring good results. It is like finding a man: you have to kiss a lot of frogs until your prince emerges. (saying in Germany)

Regards
Klaas

[Wild-Woman]

Thanks you both for the information. I wonder when the best time of year would be when searching for it, there seems to be quite a range.

[Klaas Reißmann]

Most of all I find them in spring, but I guess you can find them all the year, as long as it is warm enough. But remember: it is a real small beetle one can overlook very easily.

Regards
Klaas

[Paul mabbott]

I'm away from my computer at the moment so can't give much detailed comment. The beast is quite common in Surrey and elsewhere in the SE/Thames Valley - its apparent rarity may be due to entomologists not looking in the right places! It is found most commonly on ivy and, I'm told, ivy on ash trees. It is most easily (I use the term in its broadest sense) found by scraping at the rootlets of ivy, particularly on thick stems where a large amount of debris has collected.

As ever, I'm against the nomination of 'common names' to beetles: this is a particularly good example because the 'horseshoe' (why not arc or arch?) as illustrated in telin is notalways present - although usually there is some sort of arc - often much larger and vaguer ....

More anon?

[Jason Green]

I intend to get looking for this one, plenty of local Ivy and that.

[aeshna5]

I remember being shown this one a few years ago beaten from some ivy in Surrey- quite a distinctive little beast.