Rare ladybug in Montana behaves like a turtle

Rare ladybug: The 'headless' ladybug is a new genus that can tuck its head in its throat. How rare is it? Only two of the bizarre-looking ladybird beetles have ever been collected, a male in Montana and a female in Idaho.

By Laura Zuckerman,?Reuters / October 25, 2012

A newly discovered ladybug tucks its head into its throat - making it not only a new species but an entirely new genus. With just two specimens ever collected, scientists say it's the rarest species in the United States.

REUTERS/Montana State University/Handout

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Sleepy Hollow has its headless horseman and now Montana has a headless ladybug.

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The newly discovered insect tucks its head into its throat - making it not only a new species but an entirely new genus, or larger classification of plants and animals.

Ross Winton captured the insect in 2009 in traps he set in a sand dune while an entomology graduate student at Montana State University. Winton, now a wildlife technician in Idaho, at first thought he had parts of an ant but then discovered the bug can hide its head, much like a turtle ducking into its shell.

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Winton sent his discovery to scientists in Australia working on this group of insects and the headless ladybug was formally described in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed journal Systematic Entomology, a publication of the Royal Entomological Society.

Just two specimens of the tan, pinhead-sized ladybugs, also known as ladybird beetles, have ever been collected, a male in Montana and a female in Idaho, scientists said, making it the rarest species in the United States.

Entomologists historically used males to describe beetle species so the credit for the new discovery went to Winton.

However, the new species - Allenius iviei - was named after his former professor and Montana State University entomologist Michael Ivie.

The insect, with the proposed common name "Winton's Ladybird Beetle," may prey on aphids and other plant pests.

"The species is very unusual not only because of its small size, unique habitat and rarity, but the fact that its head is pulled back into a tube in its thorax makes its biology quite a mystery," Ivie told Montana State University News Service.. "It was so unique that it was placed, along with another new species known from Baja California, in a new genus. While discovery of a new species of beetle in the USA is not an everyday event, a completely new genus is quite rare."

He said it was unclear why the beetle slips its head into a tube in its midsection.
"It's a whole new kind of ladybug. Whatever this does, it is very specialized. It's quite the exciting little beast," Ivie said.

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(Editing by Mary Slosson and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/iXDMCOK2cvk/Rare-ladybug-in-Montana-behaves-like-a-turtle

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