Liberty

When I fished this pair of Viburnum Beetles out of my sweep net this morning and popped them on a handy honeysuckle leaf, I thought I was about to photograph some bug porn, but then I got the macro on them and realised that the male was simply hitching a ride. Though it's possible that they'd already mated - these beetles seem to be relatively insatiable - and that he was protecting his investment from other potential suitors, rather than simply taking a liberty. 

Viburnum beetles are 4-6mm long, varying in colour from gold to brown, and the elytra have a satiny sheen that reflects the light rather strangely, and makes them (I find) somewhat hard to photograph well. They're regarded by proper gardeners as a serious pest, because both the larvae and the adults eat the leaves of viburnums - though the larvae do much the worse damage, reducing the leaves to lace, and sometimes defoliating an entire shrub and killing it. In my garden Viburnum tinus is their favourite food, while they leave the tougher leaved varieties pretty much alone.

Adult beetles appear in July and August, and mating and egg laying goes on for about the next three months. This female is gravid, and her swollen abdomen is pushing her wing cases out of their normal position, a state known as physogastry. I believe the shiny area along the side of her abdomen is a kind of membranous expansion gusset, rather than being anything sinister. She will burrow into the soft leaf twigs of a viburnum to lay her eggs , covering each batch with a protective layer of mucus and faeces called frass. The eggs will overwinter there, hatching in May, and the larvae will then eat until they're big enough to pupate, at which point they will drop from the shrub and burrow into the ground.

The Viburnum Beetle does have natural enemies - the eggs are attacked by some parasitic wasp species, predatory bugs will eat the larvae, and birds such as tits eat both larvae and adults - but by far its most serious enemy is man. However it reproduces prolifically, and even the most determined gardener isn't likely to be able to eliminate it completely.

Before I go, I must thank MaryElizaR for hosting Tiny Tuesday during August. I will be running the challenge during September, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's images. I won't be setting any themes, so please just post a close-up image of any small thing you choose, and use the relevant tag to help me find it. Next week's will be TT432.