Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis var. conspicua)
There are three main forms of the Harlequin - succinea, spectabilis and conspicua.
Although there are wide variation in patterns across the three the marking seen here is conspicuous of A. conspicua.
I couldn't resist.
Introduced to the UK as late as 2004, because of its wide diet (the eggs and larvae of butterflies and moths, many other small insects, including other ladybirds, pollen, nectar, and sugary fluids such as honeydew and the juice from ripe fruits) it is closely monitored in case it proves to be a threat to native species.
Initial fears appear to have been overblown, but it is now well established and moving north.
"Harmonia axyridis", most commonly known as the harlequin, multicoloured Asian, or Asian ladybeetle, is a large coccinellid beetle. This is one of the most variable species in the world, with an exceptionally wide range of colour forms.
comments (9)
For info, Pudding4brains has also recorded this variation:
Maybe Ferdy will be able to enlighten you as to why a species cannot be created at this level.
Great capture though and well spotted (no pun intended!). Posted 3 years ago, modified 3 years ago
- Harmonia axyridis
- Harmonia axyridis var. conspicua
JungleDragon simply sees these as two separate species and does not understand that they are related. Yet you can use normal identification this way.
In practise we tend to not create such variant records, but there are exceptions. For example, the sub species of giraffe are considered highly different and important, as such we have different records for it. For variants, I don't think we ever create records.
I think identifying at normal species level and then describing the variant in the title is a good compromise. It will still be easy to find both inside JD and within Google. Posted 3 years ago, modified 3 years ago
I suspected that might be the case. Posted 3 years ago