Pine Ladybird

In the lovely sunshine this week, a number of Seven-spot Ladybird could be seen emerging from their winter hiding places into the sunshine on the leaves of a cistus. 

But Andy M also spotted a much smaller ladybird - only about 3-4 mm in size, about half the size of the Seven-spot - with mostly black shiny wing cases, and four red spots. Two round spots on the top and towards the rear, and two comma-shaped spots on the side and towards the front.  The lower edge of the wing case or elytra, was obviously flanged. A little investigation revealed this to be a Pine Ladybird, reasonably common but hard to see due to its small size. This one just happened to be adjacent to a small pine tree in Andy's garden!

Seven-spot Ladybird

Pine Ladybird

Pine Ladybird (closeup)