Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Adalia bipunctata

When I went downstairs to my kitchen a few days ago, I noticed this tiny Two-spotted Ladybug (Adalia bipunctata) on one of the flowers. My kitchen is quite dark, especially as I still haven't changed an awkward lightbulb in there, so I grabbed a flashlight and snapped this. There are approximately 35 species of Ladybug in Alberta. "This most familiar Lady Beetle is found throughout Alberta in fields and gardens. As winter approaches, the Two-spotted Lady Beetle might move into your house to seek a dry safe place to hibernate for winter .....The Two-spotted Lady Beetle overwinters as an adult under piles of leaf litter or in some other protected space. Sometimes they congregate in large numbers to sleep away winter." From talkaboutwildlife.org. After a beautiful day yesterday, today it's -2C and we have had/are still having heavy snow all day long, and now a strong wind has developed. Here comes winter, AGAIN! So depressing. (Note to self, because I have such a bad memory: I saw this photo in Explore at #85 last night, but it was not picked up by Scout. I'm beginning to get a little irritated that yet another photo has been missed by Scout in the last week, but I'm sure this happens to many of you, too : )) Later: yay, it's finally shown up on Scout.

They always say that Ladybugs bring you luck - so this one is for good friend, Doug (dougwaylett on Flickr), whom I have known the last few years through botany (wildflowers, also fungi) and, several years ago, birding. He collapsed yesterday and was in the Trauma Unit. Later, he was moved to Intensive Care. I have not yet heard any further update today (it's 10:30 a.m.). Hoping you had a restful, uneventful night, Doug - everyone's thoughts are with you, and with Flo (Doug's wife). Found this tiny Two-spotted Ladybug (Adalia bipunctata) in my house the other day and photographed it on the fluffy centre of a large Protea flower that has been in my kitchen for two or three weeks, waiting to be photographed. Now it has lost all its colour and has dried out, but at least gave me a different kind of image here : ) The Two-spotted Ladybug is smaller than the more common Seven-spotted Ladybug and is one of our native Ladybugs. "Adalia bipunctata, commonly known as the two-spot ladybird, two-spotted ladybug or two-spotted lady beetle, is a carnivorous beetle of the family Coccinellidae that is found throughout the holarctic region. It is very common in western and central Europe and North America. It is used as a biological control agent ..... The most familiar form of the two-spot ladybird beetle is the red one with the two black spots. However, there also exists a black form with red spots on it. In addition, there are intermediate forms, but they occur only rarely in nature." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adalia_bipunctata UPDATE ON DOUG: it is with tremendous sadness that I have to let people know that Doug passed away. Apparently, he had just given a talk on Slime Molds in the herbarium at the U of C yesterday and was looking at some lichens, when he had a massive heart attack. Flo, I am so, so sorry.

I was so excited when I saw this tiny Ladybug, as I thought I had found a different species. However, it turned out that this, too, is a Two-spotted Ladybug. Usually, the ones I find have just one large, black spot on each side. Seen during a hike on Keith Logan's land, on June 17th. "The most familiar form of the two-spot ladybird beetle is the red one with the two black spots. However, there also exists a black form with red spots on it. In addition, there are intermediate forms, but they occur only rarely in nature." From Wikipedia.

Yesterday, I was so excited because I thought that maybe I had photographed a new (to me) species of Ladybug, on a botanizing day trip to Keith Logan's, about 2 miles south of Water Valley. Unfortunately, this little guy is still a native Two-spotted Ladybug, despite looking more like a "Four-spotted" one, if there was such a thing. Thanks to Corey Husic at BugGuide website for confirming that this is in fact "just" a Two-spotted Ladybug. Also, according to the book, "Bugs of Alberta", "Two-spotted Ladybugs are amazingly variable. Most have two black spots on a red background, while others have four spots or two red shoulder parches on a black background."