Harlequin

At least I am fairly sure it is a harlequin. This is an invasive species of ladybird or ladybug that has already taken over USA as the most common species and is currently doing the same here in the UK. At my location in Storeton woods, it is still rare but disturbingly present. The most common LB that I see is the seven spot, I see the occasional two spot and a very small yellow species, which I was hoping to capture today, but no luck.

What I like about this image is that the eyes can be seen. It is easy to mistake the white markings on the thorax as eyes, but of course the eyes are on the head. But, even the seven spot has white markings on the head, but are definitely not eyes.

Not much else to say about this family of insects except that they are good guys in that they eat parasites like greenfly. Make the most of your native species as they are most definitely in for a hard time.

Dave