Aug 9, 2011 3:02 PM
A nine-spotted ladybug, thought to be extinct in this area, was found on a sunflower at Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett on July 30. PETER PRIOLO PHOTOS
A type of ladybug thought to be locally extinct was discovered on a sunflower at Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett on July 30. Peter Priolo made the find during a Lost Ladybug Project ladybug hunt sponsored by the Peconic Land Trust, which owns the farm.
“It’s really significant for this project,” Mr. Priolo said Friday. Led by scientists from Cornell University, the Lost Ladybug Project asks citizens to look for rare native species of ladybugs and collect information about them.
This particular lady, called the native nine-spotted lady beetle, is the New York State insect. It was the most common ladybug in the Northeast until the mid-1980s, according to Cornell University, and it was an important consumer of aphids on farms.
Possibly because imported ladybugs were more adaptive, the nine-spotted ladybug declined to... more
“It’s really significant for this project,” Mr. Priolo said Friday. Led by scientists from Cornell University, the Lost Ladybug Project asks citizens to look for rare native species of ladybugs and collect information about them.
This particular lady, called the native nine-spotted lady beetle, is the New York State insect. It was the most common ladybug in the Northeast until the mid-1980s, according to Cornell University, and it was an important consumer of aphids on farms.
Possibly because imported ladybugs were more adaptive, the nine-spotted ladybug declined to... more
Kidnap a rare ladybug, hold it hostage and release it in a strange land.
“The one thing I sort of regret,” Mr. Priolo said, “is not having been able to release it where I found it.”
After all his home in Moriches is REALLY far from Amagansett !!!
The arrogance . . .
PS -- Does Cornell subscribe to this methodology?
http://www.27east.com/news/article.cfm/Amagansett/395405/Scientists-Find-More-Ladybugs-At-Quail-Hill?message=posted
Ithacalamity!