[goosey]

I saw this ladybird this afternoon on the Equisetum in the mini pond. For about half an hour I watched as it tried to unfurl its wings, the one on the left came out at least 15 minutes before the one on the right finally made it, I did think it was stuck at first. It finally made it, and then was marching up and down the plant stretching its wings. When I went to check if it was still drying(?) them, it had gone. Was this a newly emerged ladybird? But there again the colours are bright. It seems a strange place though, on a pond plant. I have never seen this before so I was really pleased.
Here are the pictures -
1. You can see the tips of the wings. Also see how much the body undeneath looks like the pupa stage.

2. The first wing emerging.

3. Both wings are trying to get free. The wing on the left had already been fully stretched out before being brought back in several times.

4. Both wings have now emerged after alot of stretching and pulling in and out.


I suppose really it would have been better to make a collage like Arp does, instead of flooding the gallery with piccies almost the same - but, I didnt know how.

[paul m]

Originally Posted by goosey

I saw this ladybird this afternoon on the Equisetum in the mini pond. For about half an hour I watched as it tried to unfurl its wings, the one on the left came out at least 15 minutes before the one on the right finally made it, I did think it was stuck at first. It finally made it, and then was marching up and down the plant stretching its wings. When I went to check if it was still drying(?) them, it had gone. Was this a newly emerged ladybird? But there again the colours are bright. It seems a strange place though, on a pond plant. I have never seen this before so I was really pleased.

No, this is still an unusual time of year for ladybirds to emerge from pupae and, of course, one would not expect them to come out fully coloured! Two other points - if the ladybird hadn't stetched its wings within half an hour of emerging it never would..... and the actual colour of the elytral background is quite deep - much more so than the summer colour of a young seven-spot.

[Pudding4brains]

In addition to Paul's remarks: Looking at the actual wings it is a clear case of "simply" unfolding the wings as ladybirds do just before taking off - not "pumping up" fresh wings. I'll see about some pumping-pix later.

Why the beetle is taking so darn long to complete an action that would normally take about a second is beyond me though. Is it too cold? Then why is it even considering flying in the first place Or is it the first "oh my lord - I'm still soooo stiff" stretching out after a good winters sleep?? Is that even known to be a slower "stretch" than the normal ones

Somehow the photos also remind me of beetles that didn't quite make it out of the pupa "as intended" (typically happens to "late emergences" after a relatively cold - and thus long - pupa-stage). Seen some of these walking around with their elytra wide open (more or less like yours) for the rest of their lives, but mostly the elytra would look a bit more "warped" on these. (Edit: With this I'm suggesting a beetle that emerged damaged in fall and has miraculously made it through winter anyway - not one that emerged just now)

All in all, I'm betting mostly on the "cold start" theory ...
Cheers, Arp

[goosey]

Thank you both. It was a lovely sunny and warm 16 degrees - I think perhaps it could have been just having a stretch and a spot of sun bathing then, as it must have flown off with no problems - phew! The brightness of the colour did throw me, but I just couldn't think what else it could have been doing.
It was only on the 9th April I saw the first ladybirds of the year in the garden and there were three, all 7 spots.

I am very greatful it stayed round and still enough for some photo's - very obliging!

[goosey]

I have been thinking about it, and do you think it is actually possible that it fell in the pond and was drying out?

[Pudding4brains]

Originally Posted by goosey

I have been thinking about it, and do you think it is actually possible that it fell in the pond and was drying out?

That certainly sounds like a very good option

[mtngoat]

Una pregunta, pro favor . Why are they called lady'birds'? I've only known them as lady'bugs', and is there a way to diffrentiate a male from a female?

[Pudding4brains]

Originally Posted by mtngoat

Una pregunta, pro favor . Why are they called lady'birds'? I've only known them as lady'bugs', and is there a way to diffrentiate a male from a female?

Well ... I only know them as "Lieveheersbeestjes" and I think that in sort-of-kinda-dutch-speaking Belgium they're called "Kapoentjes"

The ladybird/ladybug issue is one of the glorious British-English/American-English sources for confusion

Also, here is the "pumping pix" I promised:

[paul m]

Originally Posted by mtngoat

Una pregunta, pro favor . Why are they called lady'birds'? I've only known them as lady'bugs', and is there a way to diffrentiate a male from a female?

Two or three questions there!

'Ladybug' is a USAmerican term (possibly all of America?), ''ladybird' is the English term, 'ladybeetle' is sometimes also used!
Ladybirds/ladybugs are beetles, members of the Coccinelidae family of the order Coleoptera, therefore not bugs.

In general, if you have a group of ladybirds and separate out the larger ones from the smaller then you will have separated the females from the males! Females, in most insect groups, are larger than the males.
If that's not good enough for you then you can observe them mating - amongst beetles, the one on top is the male!
If that doesn't work, then you will need to kill them and dissect the genitalia - so, unless it matters, don't worry!

[paul m]

Originally Posted by mtngoat

Una pregunta, pro favor . Why are they called lady'birds'?

I see I didn't answer the basic question ... There are a lot of web-pages about the names of *the* ladybird (the 7-spot, Coccinella septempunctata) and in Europe these go back to superstition/religion. The 'lady' involved is Mary and the patterns of the 7-spot have been linked to her. Why a 'bird'

Family Coccinellidae - Ladybird Beetles - BugGuide.Net

[goosey]

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

Also, here is the "pumping pix" I promised:

Excellent images Arp! I have seen a ladybird change colour over a few hours once before but I hadn't noticed the wings also change from orange/yellow to black. Such an interesting reference and something to look out for.

[Pudding4brains]

Thanks Goosey, unfortunately the images where taken indoors at night so the light conditions were not what one would hope for, but hey - at least it gives some idea of the process

Originally Posted by goosey

... I hadn't noticed the wings also change from orange/yellow to black.

Well, I can't say I've really noticed that much either, in all wing-pumping sessions I was allowed to witness the beetle started pulling them in way before the wings were fully "dry" (transparent black). On this particular one I even totally missed the "pulling in" because I got distracted by a phone call

@mntgoat: In addition to Paul's remarks about the sexes: If you find one with a big-belly-full-o'-eggs it's usually a girly too

Cheers! Arp

[mtngoat]

lol, every time I think of a lady'bird' I always think of a secret girlfriend thing... or sumthin'.

Is the "pumping" one of the reasons why it is possible to find yellow ladybirds/bugs? Where I used to live, there used to be hordes of them in the summer, and occasionally I'd find a yellow one.

[Pudding4brains]

Originally Posted by mtngoat

lol, every time I think of a lady'bird' I always think of a secret girlfriend thing... or sumthin'.

Is the "pumping" one of the reasons why it is possible to find yellow ladybirds/bugs? Where I used to live, there used to be hordes of them in the summer, and occasionally I'd find a yellow one.

The expansion of the wings and the coulouring of the elytra are basically two different processes.

As for the colour (Paul correct me if I'm wrong!): Most ladybirds emerge very pale/yellowish and start putting on colour immediately (as well as swiftly finding a spot to expand/inflate the wings). In many species the colouring is "mostly" complete after a few hours or a few days. Some species however will only develop a basic colour level fairly quickly and then take notably longer to reach their full colour-intensity (up to a year?!).

There are however a few species that have "yellow" colour varieties - either with or without spots - so chances are you would have seen some of those between the bulk of the "usual" beetles (I'm assuming the "prototype" would haven been red with black dots where you live too).

Most notable/usual species that is "yellow" (although with black spots) would be Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata, but others have yellowish versions too, possibly even without spots (such as yellow Har.axy. succineas with little or no spots). Not familiar with the North-American fauna though

Cheers, Arp

[paul m]

As Arp says, two different processes but shared by all flying insects.

The expansion of the wings by pumping them full of haemolymph (insect blood) has to be done very rapidly or the wings harden into their folded position and become useless.

The colouration of the elytra (NB: black/white pronotal patterns and the colours of legs &c usually occurs within the pupa) develops gradually at the same time as the elytra harden. For the common red ladybirds colour development is over in 24-48 hours although the red colour of e.g. the 2-spot continues throughout the rest of their lives. You'd probably only recognise this if you get a young and an old beetle together in the spring.

Some species, however, are notoriously slow to develop colours - especially the 10-spot Adalia secempunctata which commonly only gains a wishy-washy orange colour and in some forms this stays yellow. It's a complex business! Some species change colour seriously while overwintering.

In NW Europe we have three yellow species and five orange-brown ones - there are plenty more elsewhere in the world ....

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

As for the colour (Paul correct me if I'm wrong!): Most ladybirds emerge very pale/yellowish and start putting on colour immediately (as well as swiftly finding a spot to expand/inflate the wings). In many species the colouring is "mostly" complete after a few hours or a few days. Some species however will only develop a basic colour level fairly quickly and then take notably longer to reach their full colour-intensity (up to a year?!).

There are however a few species that have "yellow" colour varieties - either with or without spots - so chances are you would have seen some of those between the bulk of the "usual" beetles (I'm assuming the "prototype" would haven been red with black dots where you live too).

Most notable/usual species that is "yellow" (although with black spots) would be Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata, but others have yellowish versions too, possibly even without spots (such as yellow Har.axy. succineas with little or no spots). Not familiar with the North-American fauna though

[paul m]

Originally Posted by goosey

Thank you both. It was a lovely sunny and warm 16 degrees - I think perhaps it could have been just having a stretch and a spot of sun bathing then, as it must have flown off with no problems -

One other aspect of wing stretching/flapping is that it helps to warm the insect up in several ways.

Insects largely depend on external sources of heat (solar radiation or warm air/water). In the case of beetles the hard elytra (wing cases) are not very good absorbers of heat so opening up and out-stretching the wings employs them as solar panels, as it were.

Waving the wings/elytra about encourages circulation of haemolymph and therefore of heat around the body.

In some cases (locusts, for sure) the wing flight muscles are very important in oxygenating and circulating the haemolymph - in effect they act like mammalian diaphragms open and close the lungs: bellows effect ....

[mtngoat]

Ah. Thanks! Yes, where I used to live, there used to be a specific season for them. They'd fly everywhere, land on us, on our house, on our cat (she'd be very annoyed ), everywhere. Sometimes, when picking them out of my hair, I'd find a light orange or yellow one. The yellow one almost always had spots on them, but there weren't many yellows that I'd find. The worst ones to pick out, though, were the females with eggs on them.....

[paul m]

Where was that, roughly? Sounds a bit like the 'harlequin' ladybird Harmonia axyridis but there are many other very abundant ones which have these periods of migration.

In most parts of the world the "new" generation of ladybirds will emerge (from pupae) in late spring and then either hide away for the summer (aestivation) or if population numbers are very high or there is little food available then they will often fly around looking for it, often achieving huge aggregations. This happened in UK in 1976 with millions of them annoying people but eventually ending up at the seaside where most of them drowned. Similar thing happened in Southeastern Europe in 1979 - this (rather poor scan) shows about half a metre of waterside in Greece :


However some species also aggregate and travel to overwintering sites late Autumn - fewer fatalities with these but they can be annoying to people who live in their hibernation areas!

Originally Posted by mtngoat

Ah. Thanks! Yes, where I used to live, there used to be a specific season for them. They'd fly everywhere, land on us, on our house, on our cat (she'd be very annoyed ), everywhere. Sometimes, when picking them out of my hair, I'd find a light orange or yellow one. The yellow one almost always had spots on them, but there weren't many yellows that I'd find. The worst ones to pick out, though, were the females with eggs on them.....

[mtngoat]

Hmmnn... it wasn't as many as in the picture, but there seemed to be a certain season for them. If you walked outside for five minutes, you always had to make sure to brush away roughly twenty of them from your clothes. I used to live in Tennessee, and 'ladybug season' usually began when summer started.
Hihi, I just looked up the Harlequin ladybird, and I'm pretty sure that was it! I looked up 'yellow ladybird', but their heads were always yellow with spots. The ones I saw had black heads and white eyespots. The number of spots seemed to be correct though. Thx!