Ladybirds and dung

[goosey]

I was surprised today to find four 7spot (Coccinella septempunctata) ladybirds on four different lumps of pony dung (they had one lump each ).
The dung was quite old and dry or I may have thought it had been for warmth.

Is this a usual thing for ladybirds to do?

Would they have been eating it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was quite a day for ladybirds, I found a pair of heather ladybirds (Chilocorus bipustulatus) on Sea buckthorn, see image below. I struggled a bit with getting the camera into the bush as I was frightened of scratching the lens.
I also saw several Kidney spot (Chilocorus renipustulatus) all on birch and lots of Orange Ladybirds (Halyzia sedecimguttata) on beech.
So far, I have seen no Harlequins this year.

[paul m]

Ladybirds, like many other insects, will use dung as a source of water and nutrients (quite a good source of nitrogen) especially at this time of year. (They'll also eat pollen, nectar and moulds to give them a sugar/nitrogen burst before they go out seeking a mate).

In this case they were probably not eating/drinking but I wonder if they were actually warming up? Because the outside of a pat is dry it doesn't mean that there's not some fermentation going on underneath; but, also, dung pats are quite good for absorbing solar radiation and will commonly be warmer than the surrounding soil/rock/vegetation ....

On the other hand, the flat surface, clear of vegetation, might just be a convenient place for sunning?

Originally Posted by goosey

I was surprised today to find four 7spot (Coccinella septempunctata) ladybirds on four different lumps of pony dung (they had one lump each ).
The dung was quite old and dry or I may have thought it had been for warmth.

Is this a usual thing for ladybirds to do?

Would they have been eating it?

[Pudding4brains]

Hi Goosey/Paul,

Paul's answer probably sums it up, but for the heck of it, I'll allow myself to let my fantasy run amok ... did you maybe see any ladybird "livestock" on/in the dung?

Many other invertebrates will use dung as breeding chambers for their offspring; for example the Lesser Earwig Labia minor is often associated with horse dung, but there must be numerous others. I assume none of these would usually be "listed" as prey for Coc.sep. (or other lady beetles for that matter) but I'm fairly sure the ladybirds are not quite as picky as literature tends to suggest.

Last year, when aphids were at an all time low (or so it seemed), I found a bunch of different species all conspicuously gathering on one particular plant of Tansy (I think - no good with plants). I'm quite certain they were all hunting for - or as a matter of fact already lunching on - the larvae of something like Rhopalomyia tanaceticola, that normally causes the little galls in the flower heads on Tansy:

Pretty sure this specific menu is not listed for any of those, so it wouldn't surprise me if a 7-spot would find something brunch-worthy on pony dung either ?

Cheers, Arp

[goosey]

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

Paul's answer probably sums it up, but for the heck of it, I'll allow myself to let my fantasy run amok ... did you maybe see any ladybird "livestock" on/in the dung?

Many other invertebrates will use dung as breeding chambers for their offspring; for example the Lesser Earwig Labia minor is often associated with horse dung, but there must be numerous others. I assume none of these would usually be "listed" as prey for Coc.sep. (or other lady beetles for that matter) but I'm fairly sure the ladybirds are not quite as picky as literature tends to suggest.

I didn't see any livestock on/in the dung but I wan't actually looking for any. But saying that if I saw any holes/entrances to chamber I would have taken notice of them and they woul have registered somewhere in my brain. Next time I come cross ladybirds on dung I will make sure I have a good look for any chambers