Shiny But Dull: Cassida vibex

e6filmusere6filmuser Registered Users Posts: 3,376 Major grins
edited August 31, 2015 in Holy Macro
I have a long-established population of the Green Tortoise Beetle Cassida viridis on balm plants in my garden. They walk around and often fly.

When I saw this beetle on a leaf of an aubergine (egg plant) I though it was a large scale insect. It remained, motionless, in the same position for at least three days. On the fourth day, it had moved about an inch and was facing in the opposite direction.

I never saw the legs extend, at most a tarsus or two protruding. I took some shots with one antenna showing.

This species differs from the other, and from the remaining 10 UK species, in the combination of the dorsal pattern of dark pigment, the slightly gold tint and semi-transparent thoracic shield and its less convex and more elongate shape. It is one of the species whose food plant is thistles Cirsium spp. There was a thistle on the other side of the garden but it was free of beetles.

These were photographed though my Printing Nikkor 105mm, its minimum aperture of f11 limiting the DOF.

Harold


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