File:Flickr - law keven - The black sheep of the family....jpg

Highest Explore Position #256 ~ On June 24th 2008. Update ~ New position #'227 ~ On June 25th 2008.

Asian Ladybird - Leeds Castle, Kent, England - Sunday June 22nd 2008. Click You wouldn't believe how difficult this it was to get this image!!...It was blowing a gale here in Kent, England yesterday. This bug was clinging on for dear life and I just managed to click inbetween the sways..lol..:O)) This was also my first Ladybird image, the last time I saw one was when one landed on me in the shop where I buy my Sunday papers...which was typical, as I didn't have my camera with me. The ladybirds seem to be very few and far between at the moment, unless they are just hiding from me...lol.

Hmmm, it looks like I captured a killer..lol..perhaps I should have squished it after I photographed it!!! This would also explain my story above...the reason I've not seen many is because these illegal immigrants have eaten them all!!!!!!

Also see here... - www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-487281/The-Asian-lady-se... - and here - www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2004/10... Killer ladybirds in the capital By James Stern

Asian Ladybirds - One of the unusual mainly black variants.

Killer ladybirds are invading London and are threatening the Capital's insects and plants.

The large Multivariate Asian Ladybird - a native of Japan and Siberia - has been spotted in London, and has brought with it a new threat of terror to the Capital's ladybird population.

It is not known how the foreign ladybirds entered the country, but the illegal immigrants are thought to have arrived via intercontinental rail, or on imported fruit and flowers.

Many of the foreign colonies have been spotted in south west London - including the Chelsea, Lambeth, Northern Wandsworth and Southwark boroughs, with experts believing the Harmonia axyridis - to give the species it's Latin name - will spread further east along the Thames as it breeds.

London residents have been asked to keep guard and look out for the large aphid - roughly 6-8mm long. The ladybird can be identified by its white patches down the side of the fore-body, usually coloured red or orange with up to 19 black spots. It may sometimes be coloured black with two to eight red patches.

The public has been asked to send specimens or photographs of unusual specimens for identification to Michael Majerus - address given below.

The exotic ladybirds are a known menace to North American residents, entering houses during the autumn and reproducing in massive numbers. Native ladybirds and insects are edged out, either starved by competition or eaten by the in-comer.

In the longer term there is a chance that the ladybird will prosper in London. However entomologist Paul Mabbott, Co-ordinator for Surveys of Ladybirds in London and Essex, hopes European predators and diseases will keep the growing Asian ladybird population down. It may, however, be necessary to import parasitoids or bacterial treatments to deal with the situation.

Information:

Michael Majerus, Dept of Genetics, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EH