Summer ladybirds

There is always more to learn.  I manage to identify most adult ladybirds and have come to recognise urban cemeteries as good places to find them in the winter.  In summer there are larvae and pupae to find and it turns out that, for some at least, cemeteries are a good place to look as well.

Ladybird larvae moult as they grow and go through four instars (stages).  They get easier to identify as they get bigger.  Some of those I have seen recently are 18-spot Ladybird,

Cream-streaked Ladybird,

Eyed Ladybird,

Cream-spot Ladybird,

and Harlequin Ladybird, seen here alongside a pupa,

Pupae can often be identified but some species are very similar.  This is an Eyed Ladybird.

this one is a Cream-spot Ladybird

and this is a Harlequin Ladybird.

When the new ladybirds emerge from the pupal cases they are very often very pale without the characteristic colours and markings which take hours or sometimes longer to develop.  This is a just-emerged Harlequin Ladybird which hasn't yet hardened and folded its wings.

This is a 10-spot Ladybird f. bimaculata to show how much it changes.

This is an Eyed Ladybird, just starting to colour up.

After a day or so the new ladybirds are also very bright and shiny.  This is a Harlequin Ladybird.

And an 18-spot Ladybird.

An unusually dark Cream-streaked Ladybird.

I also found a few Water Ladybirds in their summer colours at a local pond (in winter they are beige with black spots).  They move a lot faster in summer as well.

There will be more larvae, pupae and newly emerged ladybirds throughout the summer so I'll keep an eye out for anything interesting.