When I first saw my letterbox covered with these beasties I thought they were ladybirds but of course they’re not. In French they’re called gendarmes. My dictionary gives firebug as an equivalent. Its Latin name is Pyrrhocoris apterus.
Lorsque j’ai vu ces petites bestioles sur ma boîte aux lettres je pensais que c’étaient des coccinelles mais bien sûr que non. C’est un gendarme. Ce Pyrrhocoris apterus s’appelle également « suisse », « cordonnier », « soldat », « masque-nègres » ou encore « diable cherche-midi » en raison de son attirance pour le soleil au zénith.
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6 replies on “Gendarmes on My Letterbox – Gendarmes sur ma boîte aux lettres”
I certainly would have thought ladybugs.
Ah, you are like me then!
I’m surprised one of their names isn’t the French equivalent of the Doctor Doolittle animal the PushmePullyou, as most of the time when you see them they are attached in pairs end to end 😮
Hmm, none of the ones on my letterbox were attached! I’ve never heard of PushmePollyou.
That’s a very cool shot of them. I wonder if they found anything interesting in your mailbox.
We don’t have a lot in our mailbox yet!