22-Spot Ladybird Through Printing Nikkor 105

e6filmuser

Having recently posted a debatably-yellow ladybird, here is a much smaller, but definitely yellow species. For the larva see:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1380588

Adults of the fungus-eating Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata live on the leaves of Goldenrod in my garden. They are tiny (3-4mm) and live amongst the foliage. When I found this one, I nearly swapped my lenses, the reversed Schneider HM 40mm giving higher magnification than the Printing Nikkor. However, I found that I needed the longer working distance of the Nikkor.

I had difficulty getting flash illumination onto the beetle, needing to point it +/- straight ahead, this being the worst case for reflections off shiny subjects.

Note how the thoracic shield is transparent where it extends over the edge of the eyes.

All images have been cropped by up to 50%.

Harold

Stumblebum

Very nice!

GOLDENORFE

Well shot , good composition & shooting angle

e6filmuser

Thanks, gents.

Phil, should you find one of these, they don't run, they just drop to the ground.

Harold

IPClark

Lovely shots of a Ladybird not seen as often as the regular harlequins etc.

e6filmuser

IPClark wrote: »

Lovely shots of a Ladybird not seen as often as the regular harlequins etc.

Thanks, Ian,

As they are fungus-eaters I suppose they don't have to roam so widely as the predator species. I may have seen adults before, when not photographing, but several years of intensive macro in our garden didn't find the larva before this year. This applies to a number of species posted. (I found yet another new one today. See tomorrow's topic.)

Harold