As I noted in our last post, the more I use the macro lens, the more I notice the small stuff. The top image was easy to spot - not only was it a bright yellow color, but the mesquite thorn was right where I normally park and exit the van and found at eye level. I almost couldn't miss it! I photographed it a time or two, sending it along to UA entomologist Carl Olson to get an ID (he is good!). He guessed ladybugs.A couple days later I got home from work and the little thorn was a mass of bugs - actually, more properly, beetle larvae. For a while the slowly writhing mass was so compact, I couldn't even tell if they were insects or spiders - I thought maybe I saw 6 legs, sometimes 8, so I was naturally confused...
By the next morning, they had thinned out some, so you could tell they were insects with 6 legs, but they didn't look like the cute ladybugs you normally see... But of course, they are the larvae, and after molting a number of times, they pupate into the ladybird beetles you normally associate with the name. Carl confirmed the hatchlings, so his first guess was right. They have since all dispersed, but will keep an eye out for ladybugs to try to ID the species...( From Melinda: "eewww")
very cool! I would have never thought Ladybugs came from such an unattractive beginning.
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