Charlotte.Fletcher

Extinction of a species is usually linked to habitat loss or the invasion of foreign competitors or predators, but on the case of our native lost 9 spotted ladybug it has likely succumbed to a combination of those factors.
The ladybug we see the most is the multicolored Asian ladybug. It varies in number of spots and ranges in color from yellow-orange to deep crimson. It was introduced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help fight foreign pests on crops. They have a habit of showing up in groups on and in my house which is a nuisance. Some believe the 9 spotted and other natives are rarer because the introduced species like the Asian ladybug have excluded them from their favored habitat. Another idea is that the number of parasitic wasps that prey upon ladybugs increased with the introduction of alien ladybugs. Changes in cropping patterns and loss of agricultural land also may have played a prominent role.

Thank you for the correction. I got my original info from www.herpsofnc.org

Nice to get a male & female pair

We looked at Bugguide.org and alot of other photos of sawflies and even though they are a good match in terms of body & wing we couldn't find one that had this one distinct cream colored band on the lower third of its abdomen and the Cerceris fumipennis did so that's why we chose it. So much of the sawfly information out there deals with the larval stage since it is the one that causes damage and concern. I will send an ID request to bugguide.org and see what they come up with

pores, no gills, white underneath

I made a suggestion of Jack-in-the-pulpit which is a woodland plant we have here in the USA that has similar berries, but since I couldn't see the leaves and I don't know if you have it in the UK check out my reference and see what you think.

Thanks for keeping tabs on us.

Thank you for the correction. Students do their best in researching the identification of their spottings and do make mistakes so its good to have help correcting us.

Absolutely beautiful berries - one of my favorites!

I try to enter the both the Scientific name and the common name by the Project Noah app on my android phone, but for some reason after I submit it it comes out blank in the scientific I have mentioned this problem to Project Noah but have gotten no response so for now putting the Scientific name with the Common Name is the only way I can do this unless I go to a computer to submit it which is more time consuming and I have not yet been able to take the time to do.