''Nephus redtenbacheri'' is a species of beetle in family Coccinellidae. It is found in the Palearctic (Europe, North Africa, European Russia, Ciscaucasia, Siberia, the Russian Far East, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Western Asia).
Similar species: Beetles
By Pudding4brains
Public Domain
Uploaded Apr 13, 2020. Captured in Koekangerweg 9, 7961 LZ Ruinerwold, Netherlands.
comments (3)
Of course, Ladybird beetles are best known for the shiny and colourful "larger" beetles (our natives between about 3-9mm), but there is large group of small hairy (and hence "dull") species. In the Netherlands most of these are in a subfamily Scymninae, with the genera Scymnus and Nephus being the most species rich, but the smallest representatives are Stethorus punctillum and Clitostethus arcuatus (both ~ 1.2-1.5mm).
There are some other subfamilies with (on average) even smaller Ladybird beetles, such as Sticholotidinae and Microweiseinae to name two (but the taxonomy is in constant flux), with representatives in the sub-mm range (0.8-1.2mm is not unusual), but these are mostly tropical. We do use a few of these in our greenhouses for biological control however (such as Delphastus catalinae), so they can theoratically be found in the Netherlands too.
For our native European species, have a quick look here:
https://www.kerbtier.de/cgi-bin/deFSearch.cgi?Fam=Coccinellidae
You can hoover your mouse over an image to see the size of the species. Note that not all species have images there, which is especially true for these small critters.
Posted 5 years ago, modified 5 years ago