Chilocorus bipustulatus (L.)
Heather ladybird
 © Roy Anderson |
 © Mike Majerus* |
 Click on all images to enlarge |
Distribution
Britain:
Widespread only in the south, decreasing strongly northwards.
Ireland:
Johnson & Halbert (1902) describe it as common in the south-west on willows but it is probably hugely under-recorded. Increasingly rare northwards and recorded from only three sites in Northern Ireland.
Ecology
A species of heather moorland at low altitude and locally common around the margins of raised bogs both on heather plants and on willows. It is reputed to feed, like the hieroglyphic ladybird, mostly on the larvae of the heather beetle Lochmaea suturalis.
*Mike Majerus images from UK Ladybird Survey