Ladybugs are harmless insects they belong to (family Coccinellidae), you may note a wide variety of ladybugs all around the globe, you may find about 5000 different species of them.
They are also called lady beetles or ladybird beetles, these critters are adorable and cause no impact on humans.
The appearance of ladybugs is very beautiful and cute. They have oval, dome-shaped bodies with six short legs. As per the species, their patterns change; they can have different types of spots, stripes, colours or no spots at all. Ladybugs are common in North America; they are seen in different colours and patterns but the one found in North America is the seven-spotted ladybug with shiny red and black body.
Life Cycle of Lady Bug
The life cycle requires about four weeks so that several generations are produced each summer. The long, slender, soft-bodied larvae, which are usually grey with blue, green, red, or black spots, feed on other insects and insect eggs. The larvae pass through four growth stages and then attach to some object and pupate in their last larval skin. Large groups of ladybird beetles usually hibernate together each winter at the same location.
They have an extremely fast life cycle of 4 weeks. They can produce many babies several times a year. They undergo a four-stage life cycle that is egg, larva, pupa and adult. You must be amazed to know that an adult ladybug can live up to 1 year only. The ladybug lays eggs underside of the leaf to protect them from other flying creatures and bad weather. A mother knows well how to take care of her baby ladybugs and protect their babies. She lays about 10 to 15 eggs in a place where they can find food in abundance. When the ladybug eggs hatch, it begin to search for food. If you have ever noticed these babies look like tiny alligator babies who don’t have to try hard much for food as the mother has already sourced the food for them. She finds a leave for laying eggs where plenty of food is available. As soon as the larva begins to grow, it begins to shed its skin and the process continuous until it keeps going and becomes an adult ladybug.
About Lady Bugs
Ladybugs are very useful to farmers; the clusters of ladybugs are often sold to farmers and gardeners as they use them to keep control of pests such as aphids, scales, and mites.
There is a famous rhyme prevalent among kids on ladybugs “Ladybug ladybug, fly away home, your house is on fire, your children do roam” These line describes the incident that took place in England it’s about the burning of the hop vines that took place following the harvest and cleared the fields but it also killed many ladybird beetles.
In folk medicine, you may find medicinal use of ladybugs for treating, colic, measles, and toothaches.
Ladybugs are cute, tiny, little creatures. They are liked by humans because they are pretty, graceful, and harmless. You will be amazed to learn about the appetite of this tiny little creature. It can eat about 5,000 insects in a lifespan.
Ladybugs are very clever; they don’t become prey to their predators very easily. The amazing reason is they taste very awful when they are annoyed by the predator. The bugs secrete an oily, foul-tasting fluid from joints in their legs. They also act dead when they sense any danger. Ladybugs are hunted largely by birds, but frogs, wasps, spiders, and dragonflies also hunt them.
Ladybugs can live into many different places such as grasslands, forests, cities, suburbs, and along rivers. They are mostly active from spring to fall but they get inactive when the cold season arrives. They find warm places to hibernate such as in rotting logs, under rocks, or even inside houses. If you have noticed you may find thousands of ladybugs hibernating colonies.
How Did They Got The Title of Ladybug
They are referred to as ladybugs through an incident that happened with European farmers. When the pests began harming the crops of European farmers, they prayed to the Virgin Mary to save them and their crops. Since then, the ladybug came and wiped out the insects invading the crops and that’s how the European farmers found the name ladybug. They even reached space for NASA, they sent few ladybugs with aphids to space to analyze how aphids would escape in zero gravity
Where Do Ladybugs Live
Ladybugs are located all around the world, especially in temperate climates. You may notice them in gardens, forests, weed patches, shrubby lands, and vacant logs. They have a variety of adaptations in fields, on trees, shrubs and you may find them even in your homes.
How Long Do They Live
An adult ladybug’s entire lifespan is up to one year only but the entire lifecycle of a ladybug can take upto two years to complete. A ladybug’s life gets affected by various factors specially it gets affected by the winter season as they leave to hibernate in this period. Ladybugs do not fly if the temperature is not suitable they fly only when the temperature is lower than 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Hibernation helps ladybugs to live healthily; they live on stored fat and food substances. A ladybug can live up to 2 to 3 years on average.
What Do Ladybugs Eat
These tiny bugs are farmer’s best friends as they save their crops from insects and other pests. Ladybugs eat soft-body insects and other insects too when there is an abundance of food. They thrive on insects but when there isn’t enough availability of food they may eat pollen and nectar from plants.
Who Eats Ladybugs?
There are several predators of ladybugs: crows and other birds prey upon the ladybug, they also get hunted by frogs, wasps, ants, spiders and dragonflies.
Are Ladybugs Poisonous?
No, ladybugs are not venomous they don’t have fangs or any stingers to hit their predators or inject any toxin into their body, However, they release toxic fluid from their joints when threatened by their enemies, this fluid is toxic and leaves foul odor that leaves stains on your fabrics.
Actual Fact: What Do Ladybugs Eat?
Ladybugs are tiny insects with different patterns, spots and colors on their body. You must be wondering what these tiny bugs eat to fill their tiny tummies. Well, ladybugs eat a vast variety of insects, soft insects, mites, thrips and insect eggs. Their favorite meals are aphids but they also thrive on small bugs, spiders, mealy bugs, mites and other insects.
There are around 450 species of ladybugs and their choice of food may vary typically their food choice also varies on their habitat and location however you know that Ladybugs generally manage or fulfill their food requirement through aphids and other plant-eating bugs, they belong to the omnivorous category which means they can feed on variety of insects and pollen of plants and nectar from flowers, some ladybugs are herbivores which feed on mosses, plant trash and fungi. Ladybugs also drink water , collect nectar and honeydew.
Mexican bean beetle consumes the parts of the plant like stems feed on plant parts like the leaves and stems. Some species when they don’t find food of their own choice feed on fungus and mildew, most ladybugs eat insect eggs when there is scarcity of food while others grab maggots and other insects, mites and mildew. Another group will feed on mites.
Below here is the list of what ladybugs eat:
- Aphids
- Mites
- Pollen
- Nectar
- Mealybugs
- Insect bugs
- Fruit flies
- Mildew
- Fungi
What Do Different Types of Ladybugs Eat?
Ladybugs live all across North America and there are over 450 different species around the country. Let’s take a look at some of the most common ladybug species
1. Ten-Spotted Ladybugs
They are widely found in North America. Their body is red and has 10 black spots on their body. They hunt and eat aphids, scale insects and mites. When there is scarcity of food they also collect pollen and nectar from the plants.
2. Two-Spotted Ladybugs
They eat aphids and small bugs to fill their tummies. These ladybugs have black heads and pronotum with yellow markings. They have red bodies with one spot on each wing cover. The larvae are black with yellow markings.
3. Seven-Spotted Ladybugs
It is the most common species of ladybug in Europe. The seven spotted ladybug was introduced to the US in 1960 to 1990 so that they could prey on insects and aphids. These ladybugs have spread widely and are found anywhere where there is an abundance of food. These are large ladybugs, approximately one by four inch long. They are so common now in North America that their rate in Europe declined badly. They are largely found in meadows, fields, gardens and forest. What do seven spotted ladybugs eat well? They eat aphids and scale insects and adult ladybugs can eat 100 aphids a day.
4. Asian Lady Beetle
It is a multicolored species of ladybug and the most lovable species. They belong to eastern Asia but were introduced to North America and Europe to control aphids and scale insects. What do ladybugs eat? The Asian ladybug feeds on the insects that harm agricultural crops, fields, landscapes and gardens to provide benefits to farmers. They eat aphids, soft insects, but they also prefer to eat fruits that have an opening in the flesh.
It’s also been found that they feed themselves on plant damaging insects like mites, thrips, aphids and scale insects.
5. Convergent Lady Beetle
It is the most common ladybug found in North America. They commonly hunt and eat soft body insect kills, aphids and thrips when there is scarcity of food. They also feed on pollen and nectar from flowers. The convergent ladybug commonly prey on pea melon, cabbage, potato, green peach and corn leaf aphids. They are found in Ohio,they are the state insect. They have black and cream dots on the pronotum with red body and black spots; they are commonly sold on nurseries and online sites to dealers for gardens and greenhouses.
6. Cardinal Ladybug
It is a species of ladybird beetle native to Australia. They appear very similar to other species of the ladybird family, but they differ in unusual patterns, colouring and shape. They are small insects ranging in size from 2.5 to 4 mm in length with bright red-orange, red colouration with black spots covering their bodies. They are excellent pest predators and nature’s best friend. They keep control of insects, critters, and very tiny insects. They not only hunt and kill various pests but also improve the quality of the soil which is a cost-effective method. It also helps to protect crops from harmful chemicals. Raising cardinal ladybugs in your field is a wonderful idea. They release nutrients in soil and help to maintain proper soil temperature, and pH balance that allows the crops to be lush and in abundance.
7. Fourteen-Spotted Ladybird Beetle
They have plenty of variety in their food choice to consume such as aphids, white flies scale, insects, larvae and eggs of some beetles and butterflies and a variety of insects. These tiny insects are capable of taking long distance flights. They can fly up to 70 miles at 37 mph without stopping. It was brought to North America by farmers to get rid of Russian wheat aphids. It’s the most prevalent ladybug in this zone and it spreads widely in the United States. As the name implies. They have 14 black rectangular spots on their body. They are found in widely spread habitats such as fields, grassland, meadows and fields. They also live on leaf trash, moss, compost heaps and some plants where aphids are in abundance.
What Are The Damages Caused by Ladybug
Ladybugs are not poisonous or harmful this colourful insect is friendly to humans but can trouble your pets if they eat them, ladybugs are not disease careers but some people may get allergic to ladybugs they don’t damage your homes but sometimes you can find them in your house but they do not cause any structural damage they may lead stains when they die and causes an unpleasant smell.
Ladybugs are often found in fields they feed on aphids and the soft tissue of plants they typically target aphids but also consume plants when the food is in scarce they may cause holes or deformities in the leaves of plants otherwise ladybugs are completely unharmful to humans.
Why Do People Buy Ladybugs
Farmers or gardeners use ladybugs to protect their products or crops from the pest. Using ladybugs as the pest controller helps keep the garden or crops free from chemicals. This also helps in protecting bees and other beneficial insects from chemicals. Ladybugs help provide a clear place for natural predators of pest insects. This also allows earthworms to live and reach the soil. Ladybugs help the field and gardens to thrive. They are people’s pets and planet safe. Convergent ladybugs are available in nurseries and online sites.
How Can You Feed Ladybugs?
You can feed ladybugs with what they like to eat, especially the aphids and insects. They also love to feed on the plant’s pollen and nectar, you can grow some flowering plants in your garden so that they can feed themselves on the sweet juices of plants. They find aphids for themselves to feed, you can also place some insects infected plants for them and place it near its surrounding so that they can have their feast, you must also allocate a drinking water source for them you can place a wet paper towel or soaked cotton ball in the closure so that they can drink water, moist raisins are also a good source of sucking fluids for the ladybug.
