Ladybug

Coccinellidae is a family of tiny beetles that range in size from 0.8 to 18 mm in length. In North America, the family is known as ladybugs, but in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, it is known as ladybirds. Because many species prey on herbivorous hemipterans like aphids and scale insects, which are agricultural pests, the majority of coccinellid species are considered helpful insects. Because these insects are not recognised as real bugs, many scientists prefer them to be known as ladybird beetles or lady beetles. 

The following is a picture of a Coccinella magnifica beetle:

(Image will be uploaded soon)

Ladybug Characteristics

Coccinellids have yellow, orange, or red wing covers with small black spots on them, as well as black legs, heads, and antennae. However, there is a lot of diversity in these colour patterns. Some of the species, such as the twelve-spotted Vibidia duodecimguttata, have whitish spots on their brown background. Coccinellids can be found all over the world, with over 6,000 species identified.

The bodies of most coccinellids are spherical to elliptical in form, with six short legs. They can have spots, stripes, or no markings at all, depending on the species. The coccinellids thus are commonly recognised depending on their markings. For example, a ladybug having white spots is called as white ladybug and the ladybug having stripes is called a striped ladybug. Coccinellids with seven spots have a black head with white patches on each side and three spots on each side and one in the middle.

Many coccinellid species are completely or wholly black, dark grey, grey, or brown, (with few exceptions such as white ladybug or striped ladybug) and therefore for people not actively involved with them may face difficulty recognising them as coccinellids. Non-entomologists, on the other hand, could readily mistake many other little beetles for coccinellids. Tortoise beetles, like ladybird beetles, are similar in appearance because they are shaped to cling to a flat surface so tightly that ants and other adversaries cannot touch them.

Non-entomologists frequently misidentify a wide range of beetle species belonging to different families as "ladybirds," or coccinellids. When beetles are speckled in red, orange, or yellow and black, they are especially vulnerable to misidentification. Scarabaeid grapevine beetles, as well as spotted species of the Chrysomelidae, Melyridae, and other families, are examples. On the other hand, unmarked Coccinellidae species may be misidentified as "ladybirds" by laypeople. Other beetles with a protective hemispheric form, such as those of the Coccinellidae (for example, the Cassidinae), are frequently misidentified as ladybirds.

The amount of spots on the back of the bug shows its age, which is a completely false assumption. The underlying pattern and colouration, in fact, are determined by the beetle's species and genetics, and develop as the insect matures. In some species, the adult beetle's appearance is set by the time it emerges from its pupa, but in most, the colour of the adult beetle takes a few days to mature and stabilise. Generally speaking, the mature colour is richer and darker than the callow colour. Thus, lighter spots or colours does not mean that it is a baby ladybug. Even an adult ladybug can have light spots or colours the same as a baby ladybug depending on their species and their own time it will take to convert to darker colour.

Ladybugs: What Are They Made-Up Of & Where Are They Found?

Coccinellids are the best recognised as predators of Sternorrhyncha, like aphids and scale insects, even though their prey list is far broader. Stethorus, a genus of little black ladybirds, is one example of non-Sternorrhyncha predation; they specialise in mites as prey, particularly Tetranychus spider mites. Stethorus species play a vital role in biological control in some cases. They are natural predators of a variety of dangerous pests, including the European corn borer, a moth that costs the US agriculture industry over $1 billion in crop losses and population control each year.

Several larger Coccinellidae species prey on caterpillars and other beetle larvae. Several genera feed on insects or their eggs; for example, Coleomegilla species are important predators of moth eggs and larvae, such as Spodoptera and Plutellidae species. When alternative prey is scarce, ladybird larvae and eggs, whether of their own species or of other species, can be a valuable food supply. The Coccinellidae were earlier considered a totally carnivorous family, but they are now recognised to be significantly more omnivorous than previously thought, both as a family and in individual species; pollen and other plant elements are frequently found in the gastrointestinal contents of apparently specialist predators. Aside from the living organisms they like, most predatory coccinellids eat honeydew, pollen, plant sap, nectar, and different fungi. The importance of such non-prey foods in their diets is still being researched and debated.

Aside from generalist aphid and scale predators and botanically derived chemicals, many Coccinellidae prefer or specialise in specific prey kinds. As a result, several of them are particularly useful as biological control agents. The larva of the Vedalia ladybird Rodolia cardinalis, for example, is a specialised predator on a few species of Monophlebidae, including Icerya purchasi, the most well-known of the cottony cushion scale species. Adult R. cardinalis, on the other hand, may survive for months on a greater variety of insects as well as nectar.

Certain coccinellid species are thought to lay extra infertile eggs alongside fertile eggs as a backup food supply for the larvae when they hatch. When food is scarce during the time of egg-laying, the ratio of infertile to fertile eggs rises. The generation of trophic eggs is the result of such a technique. Herbivorous species of the Epilachninae subfamily can be particularly damaging agricultural pests (e.g., the Mexican bean beetle). Members of the tribe Halyziini and the genus Tythaspis are mycophagous in the Coccinellinae subfamily.

While predatory species are frequently utilised as biological control agents, invasive coccinellid species are not always beneficial. In North America, species like Harmonia axyridis and Coccinella septempunctata outcompete and displace native coccinellids, eventually becoming pests.

Coccinellids are mostly preyed upon by birds, although they are also preyed upon by frogs, wasps, spiders, and dragonflies. The brilliant colours of many coccinellids deter some predators from attempting to eat them. This behaviour is known as aposematism, and it works because predators learn to link specific prey morphologies with an unpleasant taste through experience. In both larval and adult beetles, a defence known as "reflex bleeding" exists in which an alkaloid poison is released through the joints of the exoskeleton in response to mechanical stimulation (such as predator attack), inhibiting feeding. Coccinellids enter diapause during the winter season in temperate climates. Therefore they are generally among the earliest insects to emerge during the spring. To enter diapause, some species (e.g., Hippodamia convergens) form groups and migrate to higher elevations, such as a mountain.

Most coccinellids overwinter as adults, congregating on the south sides of large objects like trees or homes throughout the winter months before dispersing as the days lengthen. Coccinellid predators are frequently found on plants that host their prey. They lay their eggs close to their prey in order for the larvae to have an easier time finding them. Eggs from clutches of a few to several hundred Harmonia axyridis hatch in three to four days. The larvae go through four instars over 10–14 days, depending on resource availability, before pupating. Adults become reproductively active after a teneral period of several days and are able to breed again later, though they may become reproductively quiescent if eclosing late in the season. The usual lifespan is one to two years.

Due to environmental changes and competition from alien invaders, the atlas Ladybirds (Coccinellidae) of Britain and Ireland published in 2011 revealed a reduction of more than 20% in native species. The distribution maps, which were created with the cooperation of hundreds of volunteers over a 20-year period, revealed a reduction in the numbers of the common 10-spot and 14-spot ladybirds, as well as a number of other species such as Coccidula rufa, Rhyzobius litura, and Nephus redtenbacheri. In contrast, the numbers of harlequin, orange, pine, and 24-spot ladybirds, as well as Rhyzobius chrysomeloides, have increased. For the first time in many years since long, the kidney spot ladybird was discovered in a region of Scotland, while the 13-spot was discovered to have recolonized Cornwall, Devon, and the New Forest. The 7-spot was the most regularly observed species, closely followed by the Asian harlequin, an invasive species that arrived in 2003 from continental Europe after being imported to combat pests. The warmer, damper conditions that presently prevail in areas of England are supposed to have caused an 'explosion' in the number of orange ladybirds, which feed on mildew.

Humans & The Ladybugs

Coccinellids begin to appear indoors in North America in the autumn when they abandon their summer feeding grounds in fields, forests, and yards to look for a location to spend the winter. Following a period of cooler weather, they will swarm onto or into structures light by the sun when temperatures reach the mid-60s °F (about 18 °C) in the late afternoon. Depending on the location and meteorological circumstances, swarms of coccinellids flock to buildings from September to November. Infestation is more likely in homes or other structures near fields or woodlands.

Following an unusually long period of hot, dry weather in the UK in the summer of 1976, a spike in the aphid population was followed by a "plague" of ladybirds, with numerous reports of individuals getting bitten as the aphid supply depleted. Ladybird taint in wines made from grapes can be caused by the presence of coccinellids in grape harvests.

The harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) was brought to North America from Asia in the year 1979 with the purpose of controlling aphids, but it has now become the most prevalent species, out-competing many of the local species. Since then, it has spread throughout much of Western Europe, reaching the United Kingdom in 2004. In some areas, it has evolved into a home and agricultural pest, causing environmental concern. It has also made its way to portions of Africa, where it has proven to be unwanted in a variety of ways, most notably in vine-related crops.

Children have long been fascinated with ladybirds. They had a slew of regional English names, including Barnabee, Burnabee, the Bishop-that-burneth, and bishy bishy barnabee (all of which are now mostly obsolete), as well as variations on Bishop-Barnaby which belong to the Norfolk and Suffolk dialect – Barnabee, Burnabee, and bishy bishy barnabee. The origin of the word is unknown, but it could be a corruption of "Bishop-that-burneth," a reference to the beatles' fiery elytra, or a reference to St. Barnabas' feast in June, when the bug appears.

The ladybird song has become a popular children’s nursery rhyme as given below:

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home

Your house is on fire and your children are gone

All except one, and that's Little Anne

For she has crept under the warming pan.

This poem has a German counterpart, Marienwürmchen, which was collected in Des Knaben Wunderhorn and set to music by Robert Schumann as Op. 79, No. 13, as well as a Polish nursery rhyme, "Little Ladybirds' Anthem," from which a line ("fly to the sky, little ladybird, bring me a piece of bread") became a saying.

Ladybirds are considered lucky in many cultures, and nursery rhymes or local names for the insects reflect this. The Turkish name for the insect, for example, is uur böcei, which literally means "good luck bug." The sight of a coccinellid is either a call to make a wish or a sign that a desire will be granted soon in several nations, including Russia, Turkey, and Italy.

They are frequently connected with the Virgin Mary in Christian places, and the insect's name in many European languages corresponds to this. Although many European languages used to refer to Freyja, the Norse fertility goddess, in their names, the Virgin Mary has entirely replaced her. For example, freyjuhna (Old Norse) and Frou Henge have been replaced by marine (Norwegian) and Marienkäfer (German), which correlate to Our Lady's bird. The bug is sometimes referred to as God's small cow, in Russian it means 'God's little cow'. Occasionally, it is called "little Messiah".

In the United Kingdom, the insects have been used to represent Ladybird Books (part of the Penguin Group) and the Ladybird range of children's clothing sold by the former high street chain Woolworth's, while in the Netherlands, the ladybird street tile is a symbol against senseless violence and is frequently placed on the sites of deadly crimes. Candanch, a ski resort near Canfranc in the Spanish Pyrenees, has adopted them as its mascot. In addition, the ladybird has long been a symbol for the Swedish People's Party of Finland. Ladybirds are the state insects of Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee, albeit only New York chose a native American species (Coccinella novemnotata), while the other states chose an invasive European species (Coccinella septempunctata).

To top it all, the Ladybirds or ladybird beetles, the ladybugs are a family of small beetles spread throughout the world. The scientific name of the family to which they belong is Coccinellidae. The majority of the ladybug insects are generally considered to be beneficial as they help in controlling the population of herbivores hemipterans such as aphids or scale insects by feeding on them. Hence, they have a strong interpersonal relationship with humans as they are commonly found in all the major cultivation regions of all the temperate and tropical regions of the world and to add to that help them in controlling the insect population without causing any harm to the crops themselves.