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The Other Adalia Species A. decempunctata
e6filmuser
Registered Users Posts: 3,378 Major grins
The two-spot Ladybird Adalia bipunctat a used to be our most familiar British species. Until a few years ago large numbers would hibernate in the gaps between our wooden windows and their frames. Replacement windows and a decline in numbers mean that we only occasionally see this species.
The ten-spot is supposed to be more common and numerous that the two-spot but I have never knowingly seen it before. It also has a wider UK range, extending further into Scotland and across the whole of Ireland.
Both species are very variable in colour and pattern, with and without spots. The constant difference is the white border of the leading edge of the elytra in the 10-spot (the lower edge when folded).
I saw this one (first image) on a Hazel leaf behind some fruit bushes trained along horizontal wires. For any other viewpoints I had to detach the leaf and place it on a bird table. I used the Kiron 105mm at f16 for that image, the others:
EM-1, Schneider HM 40 (FOV 6mm) reversed onto a x 1.5 TC, f16, tin or triple off-camera RC TTL flash.
The beetle is extremely shiny and I had to reject many images due to extensive burned out, or at least intrusive, highlights. With others, these were subdued in processing.
Harold
The ten-spot is supposed to be more common and numerous that the two-spot but I have never knowingly seen it before. It also has a wider UK range, extending further into Scotland and across the whole of Ireland.
Both species are very variable in colour and pattern, with and without spots. The constant difference is the white border of the leading edge of the elytra in the 10-spot (the lower edge when folded).
I saw this one (first image) on a Hazel leaf behind some fruit bushes trained along horizontal wires. For any other viewpoints I had to detach the leaf and place it on a bird table. I used the Kiron 105mm at f16 for that image, the others:
EM-1, Schneider HM 40 (FOV 6mm) reversed onto a x 1.5 TC, f16, tin or triple off-camera RC TTL flash.
The beetle is extremely shiny and I had to reject many images due to extensive burned out, or at least intrusive, highlights. With others, these were subdued in processing.
Harold
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I know but various lightings just didn't do the job and daylight exposure was out of the question. However, they are not hot spots, just large reflections. An almost identical session with a red species of the same size gave no such problem.
Harold