Spotted Lady Beetles

It was a nice sunny afternoon and these little spotted lady beetles were out in force. According to the bug guide dandelion pollen is an important early spring food source for these beneficial insects. Their normal food is other insects. I must have come across a dispersing group that had overwintered together because in one area it seemed like every third dandelion had a beetle on it.

 In bloom:
dandelions
 foget-me-nots
 violets
 trilliums

Starbellied orbweaver catches a ladybug

Here is a close up of a starbellied orbweaver eating a spotted lady beetle. The starbellied orbweaver has a uniquely bumpy abdomen. Below you can see the buff coloured abdomen with its spikes. It looks a bit like the end of a stick, which I suspect is a bit of defensive camouflage as when it noticed me it stayed at the branch tip and tucked its thorax and legs down so all you see is its wood coloured abdomen. This species creates a regular web however the one I spotted only had a few web fragments left.