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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

The ant, the aphid, and a ladybird roaming the apple tree trunk

Paul Iddon

Moderator
I spotted this ant carrying an aphid as I was looking around the garden, and also noticed a ladybird larva scurrying around too (which I added to the end of the post).

antandaphid2_4k_1400.jpg


antandaphid006_4k_1400-X2.jpg


antandaphid005_4k-X2.jpg


ladylarvae1_4k_1400.jpg



Paul.
 
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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I never would have recognized the ladybug larva! How long since you learned what it looked like

I thought you had forgotten to post a pretty ladybug, 😂!

Asher
 

Paul Iddon

Moderator
I never would have recognized the ladybug larva! How long since you learned what it looked like

I thought you had forgotten to post a pretty ladybug, 😂!

Asher

I've always known they were those odd grey/blackish long segmented things with dots on, or at least since I got in to macro.

I find (at the right time of year) lots of them.

Paul.
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Ladybug larvae eat very large quantities of aphids. In spring, I routinely pick the ones I can find in the wild to clean my plants, it works very well. You can even buy them.
 

Paul Iddon

Moderator
Thanks for looking in Jerome, appreciated.

The ladybirds do their fair share of eating too - and it's very much needed in my garden because the aphids seem to do well, especially on my roses!

Paul.
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Adult ladybugs do eat aphids, but their larvae eat several times more as they need to grow.

Aphids (of which there are several species) are fascinating creatures, because they are a key link in several ecosystems. They are raised by ants, as your photographs show. They are linked to bees and forest honey. They are a major pest for human crops and developed resistance to most of our insecticides.
 

Paul Iddon

Moderator
Adult ladybugs do eat aphids, but their larvae eat several times more as they need to grow.

Aphids (of which there are several species) are fascinating creatures, because they are a key link in several ecosystems. They are raised by ants, as your photographs show. They are linked to bees and forest honey. They are a major pest for human crops and developed resistance to most of our insecticides.

Something else - when I find 3 or 4 of the aphids congregating on one my rosebuds, I go for the camera... and before I return they send out a message to their kin, and when I get out there with the camera there are dozens more! It's almost as if they wait and then magically appear, lol...

Paul.
 

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Aphids reproduce at a tremendous speed. I would not be surprised if indeed some were born in the time it takes to prepare a camera.

Youtube has plenty of videos on the subject:


 
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