Or not. Ladybug. What an unusual name for an insect, especially when there are male ladybugs. As I tried to wrap my head around that thought, I couldn’t help but drift back in time. I have this vivid image of my child-self jumping up and down on the bed with a hairbrush as a microphone singing “whoa, whoa, whoa, she’s a lady” alongside Tom Jones on the radio.
This avenue of curiosity led me to some interesting research. According to the entomology department at the University of Florida, ladybirds have been referred to as such for more than 600 years in England. Apparently many European countries had such a high regard for this group of beetles they named them after “the virgin Mary”.
Since these insects obviously aren’t birds and they don’t belong to the true bug order Hemiptera, they are more correctly referred to as lady beetles. The seven spotted lady beetle, Coccinella septempunctata, is an amazingly beneficial insect and can easily take up residence in your garden.
Why care if you have lady beetles in your yard? Have you ever had an aphid infestation? These voracious feeders wouldn’t pass muster as a lady in Victorian England when you think of daintiness, crumpets and tea. Just one of these female predatory insects can eat up to 5,000 aphids in its lifetime – all the while laying 250-500 eggs. The larvae alone are capable of devouring 200-300 aphids each during their development. With chewing mouthparts, these polyphagous feeders tend to prefer aphids and small scale insects, but both the larval and adult stage will eat other lady beetle larvae if there’s nothing else around to satisfy their appetites.
How to know if you have lady beetles? If you don’t see the adults, don’t give up. Look on the underside of leaves for eggs. They will be small, oval shaped and in groups of up to 15. The color of the larval instars can vary depending on the temperature, but are often dark with a splash of red. To me, they look like little alligators. The pupa look similar to the adult. The lady beetles typically overwinter in protected sites, such as plant debris. Their development is temporarily suspended, known as diapause, during this time.
By learning to recognize the different stages of lady beetles, limiting our use of insecticides, and providing pollen and nectar bearing plants, we can create a desirable environment for this garden friend.
The University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web is a great resource for animal history, distribution and conservation: http://animaldiversity.org. And, if you happen to have that song stuck in your head now, you can get your fix here: https://youtu.be/mSLXWXuch-4
Kelley Rawlsky has an M.S. in horticulture and is the director of Bringing People and Plants Together, an organization dedicated to bringing horticulture education and therapy to the community. For more information: PeopleAndPlantsTogether@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook.
Article originally published in Broomfield Enterprise - June 18, 2017
Why care if you have lady beetles in your yard? Have you ever had an aphid infestation? These voracious feeders wouldn’t pass muster as a lady in Victorian England when you think of daintiness, crumpets and tea. Just one of these female predatory insects can eat up to 5,000 aphids in its lifetime – all the while laying 250-500 eggs. The larvae alone are capable of devouring 200-300 aphids each during their development. With chewing mouthparts, these polyphagous feeders tend to prefer aphids and small scale insects, but both the larval and adult stage will eat other lady beetle larvae if there’s nothing else around to satisfy their appetites.
How to know if you have lady beetles? If you don’t see the adults, don’t give up. Look on the underside of leaves for eggs. They will be small, oval shaped and in groups of up to 15. The color of the larval instars can vary depending on the temperature, but are often dark with a splash of red. To me, they look like little alligators. The pupa look similar to the adult. The lady beetles typically overwinter in protected sites, such as plant debris. Their development is temporarily suspended, known as diapause, during this time.
By learning to recognize the different stages of lady beetles, limiting our use of insecticides, and providing pollen and nectar bearing plants, we can create a desirable environment for this garden friend.
The University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web is a great resource for animal history, distribution and conservation: http://animaldiversity.org. And, if you happen to have that song stuck in your head now, you can get your fix here: https://youtu.be/mSLXWXuch-4
Kelley Rawlsky has an M.S. in horticulture and is the director of Bringing People and Plants Together, an organization dedicated to bringing horticulture education and therapy to the community. For more information: PeopleAndPlantsTogether@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook.
Article originally published in Broomfield Enterprise - June 18, 2017
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