Two Spots, but no Two-Spot - _TNY_0817
The second-most common ladybird in Sweden (or perhaps third now that the harlequin one is all over the place) is the two-spot ladybird (Adalia bipunctata). Normally it's orange with two black spots, but there is a black colour-form of that one so this is it, right?
Wrong. The black form for some reason has four red spots on black background. This instead is a kidney-spot ladybird (Chilocorus renipustulatus).
I found this one walking around in a tree in the Paradiset nature reserve on the south side of Stockholm, Sweden. This was one of the first days when the weather was even remotely spring-like and I was aching to get out and try the new camera I bought during the winter.
These guys aren't predators of aphids like the typical ladybirds, but instead eat scale insects (Coccomorpha/Coccoidea).
It's a quite small species, but I had the MP-E65mm on and got this at 3.9:1 magnification.
Two Spots, but no Two-Spot - _TNY_0817
The second-most common ladybird in Sweden (or perhaps third now that the harlequin one is all over the place) is the two-spot ladybird (Adalia bipunctata). Normally it's orange with two black spots, but there is a black colour-form of that one so this is it, right?
Wrong. The black form for some reason has four red spots on black background. This instead is a kidney-spot ladybird (Chilocorus renipustulatus).
I found this one walking around in a tree in the Paradiset nature reserve on the south side of Stockholm, Sweden. This was one of the first days when the weather was even remotely spring-like and I was aching to get out and try the new camera I bought during the winter.
These guys aren't predators of aphids like the typical ladybirds, but instead eat scale insects (Coccomorpha/Coccoidea).
It's a quite small species, but I had the MP-E65mm on and got this at 3.9:1 magnification.