Ladybird pupa

[John Liddle]

We were clearing out the herb bed yesterday and noticed a huge number of ladybirds with all sorts patterns on the sage.

We suspect they are Harlequins which apparently can vary from red shell with up to 21 black spots to black shell with 2 red spots - most confusing!

There were a number of pupae on the leaves, which are better for attempts at photography because they don't move.

They really do have the most alien-looking appendages at the end which appears to be anchored to the leaf. They look like something out of Dr Who!

Ladybird pupa (Harlequin-) by John Liddle, on Flickr

[Trev B]

That's a strange looking one John, never seen anything like that but well captured

[John Liddle]

After getting a reasonable result from using flash to capture one of the other ladybirds we found yesterday, I thought I would return to these wierd-looking pupae using the same method - a better result I think.


Ladybird pupa (2) by John Liddle, on Flickr

[Bill53]

Well captured John

[Colin W]

Nice sharp detailed photos.