Ladybird Larvae of the British Isles ***Stock Clearance Offer***

Description

Ladybird Larvae Guide

This Ladybird larvae guide features all the larvae (and many of the pupae) of 26 species found in Britain and Ireland. Beautiful colour paintings by Chris Shields show the key colours and patterns to look out. Illustrations are highly magnified, but accompanying thumbnail illustrations show actual life size.

The reverse side of the guide includes a ladybird identification table. This table covers the important body features, habitat, distribution, status and overwintering site for each species. There are also concise descriptions of the anatomy, life-cycle and diet of ladybirds.

Even though ladybird larvae are easy to find, they are not well known. They look so different to adult ladybirds. But with the Ladybird larvae guide, you can identify all the final instar larvae of these 26 species of ladybirds by eye. While the size of a final instar larva is very variable (dependent on food supply), it is generally much longer than the adult ladybird of the same species.

Ladybirds are insects within the order Coleoptera (beetles). They have their own family (Coccinellidae) within the beetle order, with 47 species resident in the British Isles. The 26 larger coccinellid species are recognisable as ladybirds. Like all beetles, butterflies, moths and flies, ladybirds undergo complete metamorphosis from egg to larva to pupa to adult.

This Ladybird larvae guide was produced in partnership with the UK Ladybird Survey