Lady beetles
Lady beetles on campus today. Came across two Siberian elm trees (I think that’s what they are but not completely sure) that were hosting a lady beetle party. Most were Asian lady beetles, which have become very common around here. A few were convergent lady beetles. And I saw two beetles that were maybe 1mm long and very dark. They might be native lady beetles as well since we have several species of lady beetles that are just over 1mm in length. (Microweisea misella, for instance, or a few Scymnus species). Sadly, I did not have my good camera with me so I couldn’t get a good closeup. I did look with a hand lens, but that didn’t help much with species ID. Anyway, you can see one of the small ones next to my fingertip in the photo here. The larger ones were feasting on aphids that were waking down the trunk. I could not see what the smaller ones were eating. It made for a nice stop though, and a few people came over to watch with me. Some small ants (Tetramorium, maybe?) were also patrolling the tree and the lady beetles seemed to ignore them. I also saw some invertebrates so small my hand lens couldn’t magnify them enough for me to even identify the family. Lots of life on those two trees!
