Beetles

There are three main forms of the Harlequin Ladybird, succinea, spectabilis and conspicua.

The Orange Ladybird adults and larvae feed on mildew on trees and occasionally on small aphids.

The 7 Spot Ladybird hibernates in winter, in hollow plant stems, cracks and crevices and often in outbuildings and around window frames, sometimes clustered together in large numbers.

Polydrusus formosus is a metallic green, Broad-nosed Weevil.

The Alder Leaf Beetle, is a deep metallic blue Leaf Beetle. It was once considered extinct in Britain, but was found in Manchester in 2004 and is now on the increase in the North West of England.

Athous haemorrhoidalis is a Click Beetle with a black head and thorax and strongly ribbed brown wing cases.

Cantharis pellucida is a common Soldier Beetle, with a red thorax and legs and black or grey wing cases.

As larvae, the Four-banded Longhorn Beetle lives in dead wood, boring their way through old tree trunks, stumps and logs.

Donacia semicuprea is a Leaf Beetle with a metallic bronze upper surface.

The Willow Leaf Beetle is brownish, ochre-coloured, with a black head and antennae and measures in at just 4-6mm.

The Common Leaf Weevil has a stocky black or brown body, with ribbed-looking elytra, covered with hairlike shiny greyish, golden or coppery scales.

The Green Tiger Beetle is a Ground Beetle and is easily recognisable by the iridescent green colour, yellowish spots on its back and pink markings on its body and legs.

The Ctenicera cuprea is a Click Beetle, possessing a mechanism that is able to click. A spine on the prosternum can be snapped into a notch on the mesosternum, producing a click, that can bounce the beetle into the air.

If handled, the 14 Spot Ladybird will exude orange liquid from its joints.

The Viburnum Beetle is a small golden brown beetle measuring around 5 mm long.

The Nettle Weevil is a slender weevil, measuring around 7–9 mm in length with metallic bluish-green scales.

The Willow Flea Beetle measures only 3 mm and has a shiny metallic appearance and is bicoloured.

The Common Sexton Beetle is a ‘burying beetle’.

A small green-golden shiny beetle. The male is a typical Leaf Beetle shape, but mated females become swollen making the wing cases displaced.

The Violet Ground Beetle can be identified by its strong violet sheen around its flanged edges of its fused wing cases and its thorax.