Mid-July 2020
Since the release of the recent Richard Lewington illustrated ladybirds field guide there has been a bit of an upturn in interest in 'inconspicuous' ladybirds - the half of our ladybird species that are very small and often not very clearly marked. One person taking an increased interest in these is Vanna Bartlett, and indeed she has written about them in the latest Norfolk Natterjack (the NNNS quarterly bulletin, sent out to members but made available to everyone as back issues via www.norfolknaturalists.org.uk > publications > Natterjack) and on her Arthropedia blog here: https://arthropedia.co.uk/inconspicuous-ladybirds/
One evening Vanna called me to say that she had found one of smallest inconspicuous ladybirds, an all black species (albeit with tiny hairs), given the appropriate name of Dot Ladybird. In addition, she had also found a lacebug, another group that I am interested in, so I popped round after tea to have a look at both. The ladybird was just as tiny as you would expect, looking all black to the naked eye but covered in golden hairs under a microscope. I had seen several lacebugs, two on thistles and Andromeda Lacebug, but this one, Derephysia foliacea, was a new one for me.
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