| Gallery: Garden beetles |  |
The most diverse group of animals in the world - beetles are well represented in the garden though often hard to find and see.
Pictures
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The largest British beetle - the amazing stag beetle (Lucanus cervus). The large mandibles (known as 'antlers for obvious reasons') mark this out as a male.
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The jaws of the female stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) are shorter than the huge 'antlers' of the male, but more powerful for that.
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A Seven-spot ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata) recently emerged from hibernation.
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The harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) is a recent immigrant to the UK from the continent where it has been introduced in order to control some crop pests. The beetle is causing a lot of concern because it out-competes and even eats our native species.
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A good view of the 'face' of a Harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) showing the distinctive 'W' mark - though this varies considerably from one insect to another.
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Harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis). This is a very variable species as you may confirm by looking at other pictures in this gallery.
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The eyed ladybird (Anatis ocellata) is our largest species. It is also one of our most attractive, often with a lighter 'halo' around the black spots (though not very evident in this example).
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The 14-spot ladybird (Propylea 14-punctata) is tiny but very pretty.
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This unidentified ground beetle is typical of the many species which are very important garden predators. Because they are mostly nocturnal, you are perhaps most likely to see one that you disturb whilst gardening.
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This water beetle was about 12mm long. It hauled itself out of the pond onto a water Aponogeton distachyos and basked in the sun. If you can identify this water beetle, please contact SpaceForNature.
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There are several species of cardinal beetles - most with this wonderful red colouration and the distinctive antennae.
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The bloody nose beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) gets its name from its habit of emitting a foul blood-like substance from its mouth when it feels threatened. Quite common over much of Britain - particuarly in the south.
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Cantharid beetles like this one (probably Cantharis rustica) are common visitors to flowers where they may feed on other species of insects they find there.
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