What The…?

With so many ladybird pupae about I have been checking frequently, hoping to record an adult emerging. Today I thought I’d found one and rushed to get my camera. But after observing it for several minutes I was very puzzled and fetched a 10x magnifier. The ladybird was active, turning this way and that, but remaining in contact with the pupa. Then I realised that it was eating the pupa! Cannibalism!

It was a very hot, dry day. On such a day I have been bitten by a ladybird, but I never would have guessed a ladybird would eat one of its own. There’s something a bit evil about this rare mostly black variant of the twospotted tribe, don’t you think?