8th November 2009 2009

Since the start of the new school year, several people have approached me to ask about ladybirds which have been entering their homes in large numbers. What they have been seeing for the first time are harlequin ladybirds.

During the summer term, I took a group of year 2 pupils, from the junior school, Coram House, into the school grounds to search for “minibeasts”. During our search, I came across some ladybird larvae and pupae which were orange and black - a colour combination which I hadn’t seen before. A little research revealed that we had found the first evidence of harlequin ladybirds in the school grounds. At the time, I found many larvae and pupae but could find no adults. In subsequent weeks, I came across only a single adult on the trunk of an apple tree, in the orchard.

I had read that harlequins try to get into buildings in the autumn so that they can over-winter there and this has been confirmed by the reports that people have brought to me. Also, early last week, I was walking alongside the Green, at Ackworth, when I noticed several harlequins on the windowsill of the art block. There must be some chemical signal in use for so many beetles to find there way to one particular spot.

Because of the timing of the harlequins’ attempts to get into homes, they have become known in America as Halloween bugs.

The harlequins pictured on this page are just a selection of  a dozen beetles which were brought to me by a colleague, who found them in her flat.The patterns range from black with red dots to red with almost no other markings.

In this area, I have not yet seen any of the harlequins which are yellow with black dots. However, this is only the beginning of the invasion and I am sure that it will be possible to find a wider range of colour schemes in the near future.

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