Anthemis
Still in Montmartre cemetery, an Anthemis group...
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This plant was visited by a great number of ladybeetles (Coccinella septempunctata)...
But also by other insects. For instance this Nomada sp., a cuckoo bee.
Or this Megachile sp..
And even an ant.
With lady beetles and ants, I naturally looked also for aphids. But they were well hidden and I didn't find any one. Others seemed to have luck.
Then I discovered larvae of Coccinella septempunctata and Adalia bipunctata...
Those larvae are extremely quick and move fastly from flower to flower.
Looking more closely, I could finally find aphids, some of them almost transparent.
It seems that they stay in the rift between the petals and the heart of the flower. This explains the attitude of this lady beetle and the presence of honeydew on the flower.
I could even observe the larva of a Chrysopida or Hemeroba, huntig for aphids, too.
The most curious aspect of this plant is that the aphids don't feed on leafs, but on the flower.
All pictures taken in May 2005.
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Last update: February 2023
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