black monster - Harmonia axyridis

Moved

… John F. Carr, 28 August, 2009 - 8:54pm

nice crop!

This is just what I was looking for for the article. Thanks!

… Abigail Parker, 11 August, 2009 - 12:35pm

Harmonia axyridis, second instar

Multicolored Asian lady beetle larva - the double-branched "spines" are diagnostic for the species.

The larvae are black at egg hatch and get more orange markings each time they molt. This is a second instar larva (between 1st and 2nd molts). The distinctive orange and black pattern that most pictures show doesn't appear till after the third molt.

This is an excellent photo of the second instar, I'd like to use it in the Harmonia axyridis article I'm writing for the Guide.

… Abigail Parker, 10 August, 2009 - 1:50pm

my black monster (instar)

You may use the picture. I do have one with some color - would you like it?

A favor - I'm new at using Bugguide - should I be saying "thank you" for identifications, or does that just clutter the system.

skraut@ix.netcom.com

… Ray Sunshine, 10 August, 2009 - 5:17pm

thank you!

I'm mostly looking for less-colorful H. axyridis larvae at this point - they're harder to find, very small, and there aren't as many good detailed photos of them.

Generally "thank you" is implied and not necessary, especially for the experts who leave brief replies w/ Latin name only - they're very busy! But if you have some extra comments to make, especially those that'll be useful for other people viewing the picture, it's nice to add that. ("Thanks, I didn't know xxxx ate plants in the daisy family" or "Thank you, now that I know xxx is the larva of yyy I won't stomp on it anymore." And so on :-)

… Abigail Parker, 11 August, 2009 - 9:20am

picture, and comments

Thank you :)

Do you want a larger file size?

… Ray Sunshine, 11 August, 2009 - 9:41am

file size

Just crop it so the insect takes up most of the frame, then it'll look good in the little thumbnail version in the article. (That will link to this page and the full-size photo.)

Instead of posting a new pic, look for the link on this page for "edit", which opens the submission form again; go down to the "Image" field and upload the edited pic. That'll replace the photo w/o changing the rest of the page or the comments.

… Abigail Parker, 11 August, 2009 - 10:00am

Lady beetle larva.

Larva of a lady beetle, probably Harmonia axyridis.

… Eric R. Eaton, 10 August, 2009 - 8:17am