A new species for the North East

At first sight you wouldn't think it was a ladybird, only 2mm long, dark and hairy.  Once I spotted it I knew I didn't know what it was.  I have seen all but one of the ladybird species recorded in the North East and I knew this wasn't the missing one.  It was tapped from a mature oak in my garden and peering at it in the net through a hand lens I could see it was black with an orange front and orange legs.

Being at home I could bring it in for a better look and more photos but for a while I still didn't recognise it.  There are quite a few rather similar micro ladybirds (also known as inconspicuous ladybirds), all small and tending to be black with orange/red markings but this didn't seem to fit with any of them, partly because most are black underneath.

Eventually the penny dropped and I realised this was Rhyzobius lophanthae, not at all something I was expecting to find.  Also known as the Bristly Ladybird it is originally from Australia and was imported to Europe to control scale insects in horticulture.

Rhyzobius lophanthae was first reported in the UK in 2013 and is now found across the southern half of the country.  This map from iRecord shows the nearest records to mine are 150km south in Beverley and Leeds - all from last year or this.  (The large concentration of reports from Shropshire probably reflects the diligence, enthusiasm and expertise of Maria Justamond who is the county recorder there.  She also wrote the book on UK micro ladybirds and validates ladybird submissions to iRecord.)

Despite its Australian origins Rhyzobius lophanthae was first described in California by a local entomologist who thought it was native.  In fact it was introduced there in the 1890s so clearly people in Australia and the US knew about it earlier.  One puzzle is how mine got here.  It obviously can't be the only one north of Leeds but being only 2mm long and inconspicuous it might easily be overlooked.  I expect this is part of its range expansion, perhaps encouraged by climate change.  I'll be looking a bit harder in the garden now, hoping to turn up something else new.