The lady beetle: Homage to Kafka

Franz Kafka’s novel Metamorphosis was thought by Vladimir Nabokov to refer to a beetle *, and this is the story of a small beetle that metamorphoses through three distinct stages (post-egg), until it appears as our familiar ladybird (or ladybug in the US).  There are rather a lot of photos today, and little text.

We begin with the larva, this one is I think the fourth of five stages:

It splits its skin (leaving white spiky remnants still visible), to form a pupa:

or two:

The pupa is motionless, and at the mercy of predators:

And from the pupa emerges the soft, spotless adult, head first and wings last:

The empty pupa case is left behind:

and the soft vulnerable ladybird rests with its wings expanded:

Gradually the wing cases harden, and the spots develop. This next photo is taken 2 1/4 hours after emergence:

24 hours later, it has fully darkened and the spots have grown too:

Small miracles, every day. here is a time lapse 3 minute video of the whole process:

 

To be precise, my photos are of a Harlequin Ladybird, or Harmonia axyridis, photographed in Maine, USA, but an immigrant from Eurasia. It is a member of the family Coccinelidae.

* Kafka’s beetle is sometimes referred to as a cockroach, but Nabokov, who was a renowned lepidopterist, thought it was just a “big beetle”, and drew a picture on his own annotated copy of Metamorphosis. It looks quite like a ladybird to me!

From Josh Jones’ blog: http://www.openculture.com/2015/10/franz-kafka-says-the-insect-in-the-metamorphosis-should-never-be-drawn.html