Despite the breeze, the nice weather called me out to do another garden safari yesterday with the MP-E65 (and MT-24EX with simple homemade diffusers for lighting). Almost all of these shots were taken on a clump of raspberry bushes I have - they seem to be a magnet for all sorts of things, but especially ladybirds, following the aphids I suppose. In one shortish session I shot three species of ladybird larva.
Most common around here is the recent invader, the Harlequin Ladybird, Harmonia axyridis. This is a three-shot stack, as it's practically impossible to get all of one in focus with this lens.
This next one I believe to be the 14-spot ladybird, Propylea 14-punctata. I recently posted a photo of the adult in here.
And this one seems to be the two-spot ladybird, Adalia 2-punctata.
Keeping with the theme of larvae, here is a nymph of the mirid bug, Deraeocoris ruber. This is a two-shot stack. Note the peculiar tube-like formation at its rear - I've no idea what function it performs.
Also on the raspberries, and almost perfectly camouflaged, was this green shield bug, Palomena prasina. This is a two-shot stack.
Finally, on a different plant I saw these two examples of Varied Carpet Beetle, Anthrenus verbasci, showing between them some of the variation for which they are named.
