Some say they look like tiny alligators. Larvae grow quickly and shed their skin several times. When they reach full size, they attach to a leaf by their tail, and a pupa is formed. Within a week or two, the pupa becomes an adult ladybug. Ladybugs are happy in many different habitats, including grasslands , forests , cities, suburbs, and along rivers. Seven-spotted ladybugs are native to Europe but were brought to North America in the mids to control aphid populations. Ladybugs are most active from spring until fall.
When the weather turns cold, they look for a warm, secluded place to hibernate, such as in rotting logs, under rocks, or even inside houses. These hibernating colonies can contain thousands of ladybugs. The name "ladybug" was coined by European farmers who prayed to the Virgin Mary when pests began eating their crops.
After ladybugs came and wiped out the invading insects, the farmers named them "beetle of Our Lady. All rights reserved. Personality Quizzes. Funny Fill-In. Amazing Animals. They come in many different colours and patterns, but the most familiar in the UK is the seven-spot ladybird, which has a shiny, red-and-black body. Most people like ladybirds because they are pretty, graceful and harmless to humans.
But farmers love them because they eat aphids and other plant-eating pests. Most ladybirds have oval, dome-shaped bodies with six short legs. Depending on the species, they can have spots, stripes or no markings at all.
Seven-spotted ladybugs are red or sometimes orange with three spots on each side and one in the middle. Their head is black with white patches on either side. These brilliant bugs have another trick to avoid danger, too — remain still and pretend to be dead.
Simple, eh? Ladybirds lay their eggs in clusters or rows on the underside of a leaf, usually where aphids have gathered. Larvae, which vary in shape and colour depending on the species, emerge in a few days.
Seven-spot ladybird larvae are long, black and spiky-looking with orange or yellow spots — some say they look a bit like small alligators! Larvae grow quickly and shed their skin several times. In only a week or two later, the pupa becomes an adult ladybug. Seven-spot ladybirds are native to Europe but were introduced to North America in the mids to control aphid populations. These incredible insects are happy in many different habitats , including grasslands, forests, cities, suburbs and along rivers.
During spring and summer, when they are most active, these incredible insects can be seen fluttering around or walking on the leaves of plants. But when the weather turns colder in autumn, they look for a warm, secluded place to hibernate, such as in rotting logs, under rocks or even inside houses.
They like to group together, too, and these hibernating colonies can sometimes contain thousands of ladybirds! While you wait for it to be checked and approved why not to add a pre-selected message and a cool badge.
In Florida it can be controlled efficiently by releases of the parasitoid wasp Pediobius foveolatus Crawford Eulophidae Nong and Bennett , which have to be made annually in the northeastern USA Stevens et al. It was discussed by Sanchez-Arroyo Ladybirds of the tribe Halyziini of the subfamily Coccinellinae feed on fungal growths mildews on the leaves of plants. In Florida, this tribe is represented by the West Indian Psyllobora nana Mulsant and Psyllobora schwarzi Chapin which have invaded the extreme south of Florida, and by the widespread Psyllobora parvinotata Casey which also occupies coastal areas as far west as Louisiana.
Adults and larvae of the tribe Stethorini of the subfamily Scymninae feed on tetranychid mites. In Florida, this tribe is represented only by Stethorus utilis Horn , a tiny ladybird which is also distributed in the coastal plains of the southeastern states from North Carolina through Texas. Four of Florida's ladybirds appear to be more-or-less specialized predators of whiteflies. They are Delphastus catalinae Horn , D. The first seems to be an immigrant species from the Neotropical region, with first Florida record in Hoelmer and Pickett Deliberate attempts to introduce that species from California in to Manatee County, Florida, seem to have had no success Frank and McCoy , Hoelmer and Pickett The next two D.
The fourth N. After " D. Unfortunately, the ladybird beetle that was called D. Somehow this resulted in commercial biological control companies selling D. Cottony cushion scale Icerya purchasi Maskell , native to Australia, belongs to the homopterous family Margarodidae commonly called "ground pearls", although this name hardly fits this species in the superfamily Coccoidea scale insects.
It is a major pest of citrus, and an important pest of several other trees and shrubs including Acacia , Casuarina , and Pittosporum.
After its arrival in California, presumably as a contaminant of imported plants, it threatened to ruin California's citrus industry in the late s. It was controlled by importation, release, and establishment as classical biological control agents of Rodolia cardinalis Mulsant and a parasitoid fly, Cryptochetum iceryae Williston.
When cottony cushion scale became a problem in Florida, the same two biological control agents were imported from California into Florida. Mealybugs are the homopterous family Pseudococcidae, which includes some notable pests of plants. The most notable ladybird predator of mealybugs in Florida is Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant, a species native to Australia, introduced into California first in , and sometime later from California into Florida.
It has been marketed commercially as a control agent for mealybugs and is often effective, but has one unfortunate characteristic: its larvae produce waxy filaments making them look to the uninitiated like their mealybug prey. Many owners of plants have sprayed the larvae with chemicals in the mistaken belief that they are pests. This misidentification must be overcome by education.
Cryptolaemus montrouzieri does not confine its attentions to mealybugs, and also eats soft scales Coccidae and armored scales Diaspididae. Such a catholic diet is normal for a long list of Florida ladybirds, so that their diet cannot neatly be pigeonholed as armored scales or soft scales or mealybugs -- they may eat some prey in all of these families, and a few of the larger ones may even eat an aphid from time to time.
For that reason, many genera and species are placed below under h - Feeding on Scale Insects. Eight species in four genera seem to feed largely or entirely on armored scale insects Diaspididae. They include Microweisea coccidivora Ashmead , M. One of these, Cryptognatha nodiceps , is not native, having been imported in the s, released, and established as a classical biological control agent for coconut scale Aspidiotus destructor Signoret Frank and McCoy Thirteen genera containing 66 species are placed here into this large trophic group that has scale insects as its prey, meaning members of the superfamily Coccoidea the scale insects.
This superfamily includes various related families, notably Coccidae soft scales , Diaspididae armored scales , Pseudococcidae mealybugs , Dactylopiidae cochineal scales , Kermesidae gall-like scales , Eriococcidae felt scales , Cerococcidae ornate pit scales , and Asterolecaniidae pit scales.
The ladybird genera are named below, each followed by a number in parentheses, representing the number of species known from Florida: Decadomius 1 , Diomus 9 , Nephus 3 , Pharoscymnus 1 and Scymnus 16 all in tribe Scymnini , Brachiacantha 7 , Hyperaspidius 5 , Hyperaspis 17 , and Thalassa 1 all in tribe Hyperaspini , Axion 1 , Chilocorus 4 , Curinus 1 , Egius 1 , and Exochomus 2 all in tribe Chilocorini , Rhyzobius 1 tribe Coccidulini , and Azya 1 tribe Azyini see Table 1.
It is not yet clear how, or whether, they divide up the scale insects between them, because reliable prey records are too incomplete. However, there is at least some level of prey specialization in these and groups e , f , and g above that feed on scale insects, which seems not to be the case for the next-discussed trophic group those that feed on aphids. Brachiacantha has a curious life history in that its larvae so far as is known feed on scale insects within ant nests.
Figure 8. Adult Scymnus sp. Figure 9. Adult twicestabbed lady beetle, Chilocorus stigma Walker , red spots are round.
Photograph by J. Michaud, University of Florida. Figure Larvae of the twicestabbed lady beetle, Chilocorus stigma Walker. Rhyzobius lophanthae was introduced to California from Australia in to control scale insects, and somehow later made its way to Florida there is no record of an early introduction into Florida. Chilocorus circumdatus Schoenherr [other writers give the author name as Gyllenhal] was released in Florida in , from Australia although it is native to southeastern Asia and is adventive in Australia against citrus snow scale, Unaspis citri , and is established H.
Browning, personal communication, M. Thomas, personal communication. Chilocorus nigrita Fabricius and Pharoscymnus flexibilis Mulsant , both native to India, were first detected in Florida in and respectively. Azya orbigera Mulsant was first detected in Florida in , and seems to be an immigrant from the Neotropical region Woodruff and Sailer Decadomius bahamicus Casey was first detected in Florida in , and is an immigrant from the Caribbean or the Bahamas or Bermuda Bennett and Gordon These and other insects that immigrated to Florida before are listed and discussed by Frank and McCoy Hyperaspis trifurcata Schaeffer and Thalassa montezumae Mulsant are both native to the southwestern USA and were detected in Florida in and respectively.
Recently detected coccinellids non-native to Florida are discussed and illustrated by Thomas and Blanchard Adults and larvae of 12 of the remaining 13 Florida species the tribe Coccinellini probably feed primarily on aphids.
They include Coccinella novemnotata Herbst, C. Although the 13 th species Olla v-nigrum Casey feeds on some aphid species, it has been shown to be an important predator of psyllids Michaud Adult Coleomegilla maculata DeGeer, a lady beetle. Adult Cycloneda sanguinea L. Adult Harmonia axyridis Pallas, the multicolored Asian lady beetle.
Adult Olla v-nigrum Casey, a lady beetle red spots are trapezoidal and there is a white edge on the pronotum. The larva of Olla v-nigrum Casey, a lady beetle. Four of these, C. The first three were introduced into Florida Frank and McCoy The last was detected for the first time in the USA in in Louisiana, and it subsequently spread widely.
In some habitats it has built large populations and its adults, in their search for overwintering sites, sometimes are able to enter loosely constructed houses; there they die of desiccation, or they are evicted or destroyed by the householders who accuse them of being pests. Two of these genera, Coleomegilla and Mulsantina , include adelgids Adelgidae , which are closely related to aphids, in their diet.
Further, Coleomegilla also includes pollen whereas Mulsantina also includes scale insects in the broad sense. Ladybird larvae and adults may supplement their normal prey in times of scarcity with other types of food.
They consume flower nectar, water and honeydew -- the sugary excretion of piercing-sucking insects such as aphids and whiteflies. Many plant species also contain organelles in locations on the plant other than the flower -- termed extrafloral nectaries -- that produce a nutrient-laden secretion. While it was first thought that extrafloral nectaries were used by the plant for excretion, it is well substantiated Bentley , Pemberton and Lee that most plants actually use the extrafloral nectaries to attract predators and parasites for protection from their herbivores.
Over species of plants in 64 families have extrafloral nectaries. Plants commonly found in Florida landscapes with extrafloral nectaries are the fruit trees, Prunus spp. Extrafloral nectaries may be located on leaf laminae, petioles, rachids, bracts, stipules, pedicels, fruit, etc. Ladybirds often use the secretions from extrafloral nectaries in their diet Pemberton and Vandenberg and are just some of the many beneficial insects that use extrafloral nectary secretions.
Ladybirds are not exempt. Larvae of Epilachna borealis and E. Larvae of E. This wasp is a parasitoid of other epilachnine ladybirds in India, and was introduced into the USA specifically to control Epilachna varivestis.
Another native tachinid fly, Hyalmyodes triangulifer Loew , is less specialized, attacking larvae not only of Epilachna varivestis , but also of Coleomegilla maculata , several weevils, and a pterophorid moth. Perhaps the best known of the parasitoids of ladybirds is the braconid wasp Perilitus coccinellae Schrank.
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