Detecting Ladybirds 'Headless'

If at first glance a Allenius iviei ladybug, maybe we will think it is a headless corpse, but actually its head "hides" in the chest.

A ladybug Allenius iviei is hiding her head in her chest. (Photo: Michael Ivie)

Ross Winton, an insect researcher at the University of Montana in the United States, discovered a tiny brown bug (about 1mm in length) in the trap he placed in the sand dune in southwestern Montana. At first he did not see the head of the animal and thought it was the body of an ant or some insect.

But in closer study, Winton found the animal to be a male ladybug with an indented head inside a tube of its chest, similar to the way turtle hid its head in the future.

A similarly shaped female ladybug was discovered in Idaho state, where the male ladybug Winton found was about 90km away. Winton's discovery allowed researchers to confirm that two individuals belong to the same species that scientists have never known. They called that species Allenius iviei.

'This tiny insect is identified by two animals, one male and one female. That makes them the rarest species in America. Their unusual points include not only small body size, unique living environment and rare levels. The possibility of retracting a tube in their chest is also a mystery, 'said Michael Ivie, a University of Montana insect researcher.