www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I mentioned by email a week ago to two of my regular Avon Wildlife Trust contacts that I had spotted a harlequin ladybird on the local reserve site but regretted not having taken a photo of it. These foreign invaders are common in the Southeastern English counties but are only recent visitors to the Bristol region. They are aggressive and displace existing native species in the same way that grey squirrels have displaced reds. One AWT rep said blow the photo, stamp on it. The other said, get a photo, then stamp on it.
I found two more yesterday at the reserve, and as requested, photographed them then squashed them. But I felt guilty at having done so. What are members' views? Should I have squashed them? Do they deserve a life when they threaten native species? Will it make much difference since they'll probably carve out their niche anyway?

Could some one describe what a harlequin Ladybird looks like?

Today I visited the churchyard opposite my house & there must have been 200 ladybirds of various shapes, sizes & colours over the headstones. Must have had some divine protecton!!
I did take some photo's as it is the most I have seen for a few years.

I would however find it difficult to squash them.


Angie

Angie, I'm really glad you've got lot's of ladybirds around you - let's just hope they're not harlequins! You can find out about them here:

http://www.harlequin-survey.org/

There are lots of different forms of the harlequin, some resembling our British species. Unless you are really very sure of your IDs then I'd leave them alone. The last thing we need is people squashing the wrong ones. Just taking a glance at any wildlife forum such as this and you can see how many mistakes are made with IDs. I've found a couple of harlequins, but left them be. After all, squishing a couple won't really make much difference, but get a wrong ID and our ladybird population will be in even more of a mess.
Alexander

Is this a harlequin or a UK ladybird
[img]http://homepage.ntlworld.com/djfmackenz ... lequin.jpg[/img]
It was taken in my garden in the summer
Dave

Dave, my guess is that it's not a harlequin. The front carapace is all black and the legs are black. Harlequins' legs are brown.
Thanks for that link Alexander. I thought my identification was ok as they really do look different through the camera lens, with odd looking jaws and antennae, but it's good to have a few pictures to confirm it.