Strange new insect in my garden

[Hazel]

Hi,
We have a new beetle that is infesting our apple tree, and is also on the nearby silver birch, and I've also found one on my dearest rose plant.

It is about half a centimetre long, has a black head and two orangey/red bands going down its body. There are small spikes running down these red bands. It has four legs on its main body, and two at the front. When squashed it contains a horrible yellow fluid. Yuk!

It is making brown marks on the leaves of the apple tree and eating the leaves. Many of the leaves are starting to curl, but I'm not sure if this particular bug is causing that or not.

On the Silver Birch tree, next to the Apple Tree, I have found several of these bugs, and I think they are responsible for eating many of the leaves.

Any idea what it might be please? I'm wondering if it's an foreign bug as I have never seen it before and it looks quite exotic!

Thanks.

[gardening_guru]

Hello Hazel,

Sorry, I'm no expert on all of the different garden pests, I know the common garden pests in the UK but I'm not sure which beetle it is that you have on your trees.

Have you tried using google images http://www.google.co.uk/imghp

It's a great resource, and if you look hard enough I'm sure you will find your beetle in there somewhere.

[Hazel]

It's OK. I've now found out that they are the larvae of the Harlequin Ladybird. I can't think why I haven't noticed them before as I understand they are fairly common in the south of England. So I will definitely not be squashing any more of them!