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please identify

susie61susie61 Posts: 56
in Wildlife gardening

Hi we found this little bug crawling up an empty flowerpot. Never seen anything like it before, can anyone identify it or tell us anything about it

image

 

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Posts

  • bekkie hughesbekkie hughes Posts: 5,294
    Cant really make it out, im sure Edd will know what it is! image
  • susie61susie61 Posts: 56

    Thanks bekkie, we are not very good at all this uploading lark so couldn't make it bigger but we clicked on the actual picture in the post and it enlarged it quite a bit, but we still have no idea what it is

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    Looks like a Cryptolaemus montrouzieri larva (mealybug ladybird larva) but they seem to be endemic to Australia or New Zealand - where are you?

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,616

    Woolly scale insect

  • susie61susie61 Posts: 56

    Hi Bob this was found at my daughters local pub garden in Faversham, Kent. Is this bug a baddy or does it eat the baddies?

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    If my ID is correct, it's a goodie and eats mealybugs.  If Fidget is right, it's a baddie.

    We need another opinion methinks. 

    The mealybug ladybird is being used for biological control, so it's a possible escapee from a nursery etc.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • bekkie hughesbekkie hughes Posts: 5,294
    I thought it looked like a ladybird baby, but thought that couldnt be right because of the colour- maybe im not so thick after all!

    Im impressed Bob! image
  • bekkie hughesbekkie hughes Posts: 5,294
    Oops, hadnt seen fidgets post! image
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,444

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKZHcQbZDu0

    I've never met one of those



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • susie61susie61 Posts: 56

    Hi Bob now you have given us a name to look up we googled it and found you are right, it is a ladybird larva, but has developed a white woolly coat to protect it from ants when it is eating the soft bodied scale insects that the ants protect to eat themselves, apparently. Faversham is home to the Brogdale Research Centre (Fruit Growing) so I don't know if they are experimenting there.

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