Water ladybird

This tiny little beauty is a water ladybird, a species I have been looking for for ages, and another massive tick on my list!
The Water ladybird Anisosticta novemdecimpunctata is around 4mm in length and as the name suggests lives in emergent vegetation at the edges of ponds, where it feeds on aphids. It is distinctly elongate in shape, and it's colour varies from buff to brighter orange depending on the time of year. They overwinter in the between the leaves and in the stems of reeds and in grass tussocks.
They are amazingly fast! and just getting this photograph proved quite a challange!

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