Ladybird

lillyrose on Oct 29, 2009

Tags: aphids, bettle, garden, ladybirds, ladybugs, larvae, metamorphosis

The beautiful ladybird that is neither a lady nor a bird.

Most of us will have seen this beetle kind of insect, with three parts to its body, a head a thorax and an abdomen and wings that are hidden out of sight. They are mainly bright red in colour to warn predators that they do not taste nice, and they have perfect black spots on their backs, the spots do not tell the age of the ladybird as I was told as a youngster but merely state which species it belongs to. The two spotted ladybird will belong to the two spotted species and the seven spot to the seven spot species.

The ladybirds thrive on a diet of aphids, small pear shaped insects that come in many colours and are found in all gardens. They are known as plant lice or greenflies and they suck sap from the leaves of plants with a piercing mouthpart.

European ladybirds are often hard to distinguish the two sexes, they have no difference in appearance unlike some breeds that have the males with black heads and the females with white heads. This doesn’t tend to be a problem because if a male climbs onto the back of another male, he soon retreats. However when its not mating season the only way you can really tell is to perform an autopsy.

The life cycle of a ladybird is much like any other insect, it undergoes a complete metamorphosis through its life. The ladybird mates in spring or summer, laying a cluster of eggs that can be a few eggs up to 300.

FERTILISATION

The eggs are fertilised within the ladybird, then she will lay the eggs as near as possible to an aphid site. They hatch in around 3-7 days.

LARVAE

Hatching from the egg comes a 6 legged bug larvae, they are long in shape and grow very rapidly, shedding their skin several times, they stay in this state for 21 days, they then attach themselves to the stem of the plant and their back splits down the middle, revealing the pupae.

PUPAE

Pupae only stay in this silent state for 5-7 days but inside something very magical is happening. Now they are about the same size as an adult ladybird and as metamorphosis only lasts for a few days, the adult ladybird is nearly ready to go.

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Comments (23)

cutedrishti8 on Oct 29, 2009
A nice one to share
ken bultman on Oct 29, 2009
A nice lesson in entomology. A new genre for the writer. You eat something different for breakfast? lol.
martinpm on Oct 29, 2009
An article with lots of detailed information, thanks for the share.
Sourav on Oct 29, 2009
Nice write!
The Last Ogre on Oct 29, 2009
Good info. But you know friend, you should have posted this under Sciencery, for higher earnings. Authspot is the second to the lowest paid site under Triond. Just sharing my thoughts. But, as creative content writers, I can understand that we love Authspot so much lol
larry84 on Oct 29, 2009
good write
sandie on Oct 29, 2009
since living in liverpool and we had an explosion of lady birds all over the beach even, i havent seen one since, loads of green flies but no lady birds to eat them, i wonder how many people still see them today, good read thanks for sharing.
diamondpoet on Oct 29, 2009
Interesting article, I liked it.
lillyrose on Oct 29, 2009
the ladybirds are still around although we have a ladybird called the Harlequin invading Britain and they eat our little red ladybirds. These are bigger and spottier and come from Asia and leave a nasty smelling liquid every where they go!

Geomorphosis, thanks for the info, I still don’t really know where to put all my work!
Lostash on Oct 29, 2009
You’ve caught the bug for bugs at last! I don’t think Harelquins eat other ladybirds, they just reproduce in greater numbers so resources (aphids) are shared! There is a Harlequin survey online at the minute as they monitor its spread across the UK.
lillyrose on Oct 29, 2009
I read they eat our ladybird larvae!!! Fungus man! LOL do you want a fight? hahahaha
jimbob1 on Oct 29, 2009
Interesting home the ladybird changed its name when it migrated over here where they are more commonly referred to a ladybugs. They are my all time favorite insect and I will gather them up and take to the a place of refuge as colder weather comes. I had a brand new experience with one this summer…it actually bit me…was I surprised! Maybe it was blind and mistook me for an aphid…afterall I am a bit “pear-shaped”!!!
lillyrose on Oct 29, 2009
Oh Jimbob you do make me smile! I love ladybirds/bugs apart from the time we were on holiday when I was young and something happened to make these little bugs infest our caravan, we were standing on them… I still remember the crunch!
Lostash on Oct 29, 2009
I stand corrected! They do predate on other Ladybirds when other food is scarce! And Ive got a black eye now! Lilly has a mean right hook you know!
Tanya Wallace on Oct 29, 2009
Great write Lilly! Very well presented,interesting and well written.We call them Ladybugs in Canada.They are very intricate little bugs. What they do with aphids is herd them together like cattle.Aphids collect a sap and the ladybugs eat the sap as well as the aphid.God love them little bugs lol
Good stuff a very enjoyable read!
Will Dee on Oct 30, 2009
Good and interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
Lee Ness on Oct 30, 2009
Very good and interesting article. Love ladybugs. They are so cute and small. They tickle when climb on you and they do not big noise when they fly like flies.
Thanks very well written article
Lee Ness
deep blue on Oct 30, 2009
It amuses me to think of a lady with a “bird”. Or is it? Does observing an insect makes me a voyeur? Thanks for the tip my friend, you made me realize ladies could have birds too. Hmmmmnnnn, ladybird. Nice logo for the 3rd sex org.
Darla Cooke on Oct 30, 2009
We have a lot of those around here right now.
PhoenixRox on Oct 30, 2009
I always knew these as Ladybug.. When I was a kid I used to think they were super pretty..lol.. Nice article.
Patrick Regoniel on Oct 30, 2009
Nice post. I learned somewhere that ladybirds are being imported by American farmers from Australia to control pests in their plantations.
Jane Jane on Nov 1, 2009
cute ladybirds from your pictures.
STEVE666 on Nov 2, 2009
Good article, Lily. Haven’t seen any Ladybirds this summer

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