Ladybird

Convergent Ladybird
I just had to write about these little critters. I love going outside and finding them all over the place, up high in the trees or in the bushes. Also I just read some valuable information on these insects. Supposedly there are 350 different species of ladybugs just in America alone and all species are beneficial, throughout the world the amount of species hits the mark of 3,500 and only grow to a size of 1/16 of an inch big but sometimes a little bigger depending on location. ladybugs live and can be found almost anywhere in the world, they are very widespread there's no general place that they live in and they can come in a varity of colors.

Ladybugs scientific order name is Coleoptera and family name Coccinellidae. The name ladybird originates from the time of the Middle-Ages when these insects were bestowed upon a virgin girl which henced the name Ladybird or Ladybug.

Both Ladybirds and even their young are very beneficial insects for gardens or growing vegetables. Feeding on aphids, spider mites, small flies, and scale insects that can do serious harm to plant and tree life. In Califronia back in the 1980's where these pest roamed the land, were causing serious damage to the citrus trees. The Cottony-Cushion Scale bug from Australia began to spread throughout California's orange groves. When the orange industry became threatened they looked for a solution, an Australian ladybird which feeds only on these scale insects was imported to California and within a few years the scales were completely eaten and under control. I read in my new entomology book, to release 1,500 ladybugs per every 1000 square feet of garden. Do the math, half is 750 beetles per 500 square feet, a quarter is 375 beetles per 250 square feet, and since 375 is an odd number I have to round for an eighth which is 188 beetles per 125 square feet, you can get more intricate than that if you'd like but that's the basics for smaller gardens that I could think of at the moment.

A female will lay 200 to 1,000 eggs over a three-month period. Females will lays their eggs on plants that are infested with aphids or scales. The eggs are round, tiny, and yellow and in clusters of 10 to 30. Once hatched, the larvae will travel as far as 40 feet in search for prey over a twenty-day period. A ladybird larvae looks like a tiny six legged alligator with short spines on each segment, but the skin is rippled and saturated in colors of black and orange. When ready to turn from a larva to beetle a ladybird larva will find a place to metamorph into a cacoon like pupa which is a week long process or shorter. For ladybugs to thrive and reproduce they need beneficial nectar and pollen from flowers as a food source.

Eggs

Larva

The life cycle of a ladybug is very similar to a butterfly's life cycle.

The eggs hatch into a caterpillar( larva), then metamorphsis takes place in a cacoon( pupa), then turns into a butterfly, just in this case a ladybug.

Pupa










Once an adult, a ladybug can live from several weeks to a few months old. If adults are late bloomers or happen to survive longer than expected, they will hibernate over the winter with hundreds to thousands of ladybugs in tree trunks. A ladybugs habitat consists of hegdes, trees, gardens, flowers, tall grass, fields, and anywhere else containing vegetation and a food source.

Though the common ladybird species are generally similar in appearance they differ in the number of spots and in color. Ladybirds have been known to have as many spots ranging from 2 to 22 spots on the backs of their wings. Though the way you can tell if a ladybird is a ladybird is not only by their appearance but also by their shortness of their legs. Every ladybug has the same short legged bodies while other garden beetles will vary in leg length.

When a ladybug becomes threatened from a predator it will release a yellow liquid, that liquid is a defense mechanism, whenever a bird or lizard eats a ladybird, the ladybug will release the liquid while being eaten inside the mouth, thus delivering a nasty taste forcing the predator to not eat them.

I have a trick if you want to catch one, hold the palm of your hand underneath one and take your other hand and touch it, grab it, or whatever just make them fall. The ladybug should play dead and fall right into your hand and then you get to enjoy spectating them until it flys away, if you let it fly away.If you want to attract ladybirds, artificial food can made by diluting a little honey with a small amount of water and mixing in a tiny bit of brewer's yeast or bee pollen. After making the solution smear small amounts onto pieces of waxpaper and fasten them to plants in your garden. Replace the food every 5 to 6 days or whenever moldy. Keep any extra food refrigerated between feeds. Discontinue use when your ladybug population becomes established.

Here's a few species I took some photos of and if you happen to notice they're all on the same tree, ladybugs love Huisache trees.

Asian Harmonia Ladybird

Twice Stabbed Ladybird

Ashgrey Ladybird