Garden Insects

23rd June 2015 - Topsham

As a break from work I set up my macro lens and had a wander around the garden, here's what I found on just one plant, a Greater Burdock Arctium lappa.

Rutpela maculata - 23/6/2015 Topsham

A common Spotted Longhorn Beetle (Cerambycidae), this one was resting on a Burdock leaf but they're most easily found feeding on the flower heads of umbellifers - often Hogweed at this time of year - the dust is pollen.

Propylea quatuordecimpunctata - 23/6/2015 Topsham

Also in yellow and black, here's a pair of 14 Spot Ladybirds (Coccinelidae) getting friendly (or 'in copula' as entomologists like to say) on the same Burdock. The scientific name is often spelled Propylea 14-punctata - in which I suppose (pointless digression alert!) you should pronounce '14' as 'kwatt-oo-or-dess-im', or should that be  'kwatt-oo-or-dek-im'?

Tephritis bardanae - 23/6/2015 Topsham

Tephritis bardanae is a gall fly of the family Tephritidae; also often called fruit flies (which usually refers to Drosophilidae) or peacock flies on account of their patterned wings. This species is common and Burdock is its usual host plant. The larvae feed and form galls in the flower heads.

Large Skipper Ochlodes venata male - 23/6/2015 Topsham

Another from the Burdock, a newly emerged Large Skipper. It's a male because it shows thick black lines in the middle of its fore wings - 'sex brands' - patches of specialised scales that give off a pheromone.