Friday 13 April 2012

A beautiful pair, but not for the lilies!

This pair of Scarlet Lily Beetles, Lilioceris lilii, was mating on my Asiatic lilies a couple of days ago. These shiny leaf-eating beetles have emerged from the soil, where they overwinter, just when lily shoots and leaves are well developed. Both adults and larvae are voracious and can quickly defoliated plants. I have posted on this species before, but you can submit your records to the RHS Lily Beetle Survey, where there is more information on the species.

2 comments:

TGIQ said...

That's a gorgeous photo! Well done :) I'm waiting for my "crop" of Lilioceris to emerge - we had our first infestation last year and it was gangbusters!!!

Africa Gomez said...

Thank you TGIQ! So far I have only seen adults, probably dispersing to my lilies, the larvae look so weird I almost look forward to a - small- infestation.