Ah, Ladybugs!

May 16, 2013

Ah, Ladybugs!

May 16, 2013

Consider the lady beetle, aka ladybug.

It's not a bug, but a beetle. It belong to the family Coccinellidae, and scientists have described about 5000 species worldwide, and about 450 in North America. 

Some quick facts...

Ladybugs are not always red with black spots.  The colors can be red, yellow, orange, gray, black, brown and pink. And, not all ladybugs have spots. Some have stripes and some have neither spots nor stripes.

Coccinellid are omnivores, dining on soft-bodied insects such as aphids, as well as plants. Aphids?  A single ladybug can eat some 5000 aphids during its short life span of three to six weeks.

Ladybugs are considered good luck. If a ladybug lands on you, Lady Luck is supposed to smile on you.

This ladybug (below) landed on me on the grounds of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis.

I'm still waiting for Lady Luck.