7-Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata) Lifecycle

The garden is filling with ladybirds, and rather wonderfully I have only seen one alien Harlequin so far this year. All the others are 7-Spots (as in the photo above), with just one 2-Spot making an appearance so far.

As well as adults, there are plenty of odd looking but very distinctive larvae.




These are even better (and faster) at devouring aphids than the adults are. They have a voracious appetite as you can see in the pictures.

Once the larvae have eaten their fill and grown nice and big, they pupate on leaves (and protect themselves by looking a lot like bird droppings) until a they emerge as adult ladybirds.

Newly emerged ladybirds are soft and near colourless, and gradually harden and gain colour over the first few hours of their new adult life.

Then they busy themselves eating more aphids until they find a mate and can produce eggs which will hatch into more larvae, and the cycle begins again.

All the photos on this post were taken (in my garden) within a few weeks of each other.

The Odd Couple

Flea Beetle and Snail, originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

The garden is full of these neat little beetles every year. I especially love their golden syrup amber colour. The swollen rear femoral leg sections allow them to jump powerfully, giving them their common name of 'Flea Beetle'. This species is Aphthona flava, but there are many others in the UK, all tiny, such as Phyllotreta nemorum and members of the Altica genus.

I chanced upon this one sitting happily and cutely on the shell of a small snail. The photo opportunity was too good to miss. :)

7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)

7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

I have an Artemisia that suffers from an annual invasion of cool black and grey aphids who sway in unison when disturbed. There are hundreds of them but amazingly the plant doesn't seem to be detrimentally affected. I can always be sure to find ladybirds on it, enjoying the banquet. This lovely 7-Spot was the latest visitor. Happily, I have seen plenty of native ladybird species this year and very few of the large invading Harlequins, unlike last year when the opposite was true.

Thick Legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) Male

Thick Legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) Male, originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

The male of this distinctive metallic green beetle shows the 'thick-legs' that give it its common name. The females do not have this feature. They eat pollen, usually very messily, and seem to love hardy geraniums and lavatera (mallow). Mating occurs in late spring/early summer.

Beetle (Lagria hirta)

Beetle (Lagria hirta), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

I've seen several of these beetles in the garden this year. Never seen them before, so I was quite excited! This is a male as it is relatively long and narrow, females are wider. It has lovely golden wingcases which are distinctly furry, and long, black, many-sectioned antennae. It was also a capable flier.

Thick Legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) Female

Thick Legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) Female, originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

The female of this gorgeous iridescent green beetle does not have the 'thick-legs' for which the species is named. Only the male shows these thickened femoral sections on the rear pair of legs. The beetles in my garden can always be found messily eating pollen on hardy geraniums and bindweed. They fly, although when you see them doing so they look very ungainly.

14 Spot Ladybird (Propylea 14-punctata)

14 Spot Ladybird (Propylea 14-punctata), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

A small, native species of ladybird, but not one easily overlooked, as the bright yellow and black colouration stands out on most plants. It eats aphids like other ladybirds and is a welcome visitor to my garden. As the name suggests, it has 14 spots, 7 on each side, although these can be variable in size and shape, and it has a yellow spotted panel behind the head unlike many ladybirds where this structure is black.

22-Spot Ladybird (Psyllobora 22-punctata)

22-Spot Ladybird (Psyllobora 22-punctata), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

This ladybird is probably the most striking of them all. Although cutely tiny (it is sitting on a blade of grass), the yellow colouring is unmissable even from some distance away. A brighter yellow that the 14-spot ladybird, with more and better defined spots.

Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

A foreign invader that is significantly larger than our native species and is currently considered a threat to them due to competition. It can be tricky to identify as the markings vary from this orange/red with black spots to completely black, but the size is a give-away. There have been a few in the garden over the last year or two, but not too many... yet. I still seem to have plenty of native species of all shapes and sizes.

Beetle (Oulema melamopa)

Beetle (Oulema melamopa), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

An attractive small ground beetle, with a black head, red thorax and green/black metallic abdomen/wingcases. I was lucky to spot this one as they are very fast and eager to vanish into the undergrowth.

Flea Beetle (Phyllotreta nemorum)

Flea Beetle (Phyllotreta nemorum), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

Flea beetles are much as the name suggests. They are tiny beetles that jump like fleas. They have obviously thickened back legs for jumping. Many are pests of crops like turnips and potatoes, but I've never noticed any problems with the several species in my garden. This one is particularly attractive. Usually they are a uniform black or brown, occasionally with some faint markings, but this species has these lovely clear stripes.

Rosemary Leaf Beetle (Chrysolina americana)

Rosemary Leaf Beetle (Chrysolina americana), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

When I spotted this beetle on some variegated sage, my first thought was how exotic it looked. It is surprisingly large and I love the oil-on-water colouring and lines of dimples. Sadly it flew away (an impressive sight) and I haven't seen another in the garden to date.

Beetle (Strangalia maculata)

Wasp Beetle (Strangalia maculata), originally uploaded by Pipsissiwa.

I spotted this guy the year after I created my first log pile, and to my delight this large insect was climbing out of it. Given their larvae live on rotten wood, I'm hoping that means they are breeding in the garden. I've never seen one of these before, and it took me by surprise when it flew across the garden to bask on an ivy leaf. What a wonderful, striking example for my first sighting of any long-horn beetle ever.