Everyone knows such an insect as a ladybug. Each of us held this beetle in the palm of our hand and counted with curiosity the number of dots on its back. Remember how in childhood we thought how many dots - so many years and a ladybug, how we sang rhymes, begging to fly to the sky ... The ladybug insect evokes joyful and enthusiastic memories from childhood. Below you will find a photo and description of a ladybug, you can learn a lot of new and unusual things about it.

ladybug looks quite small. The size of a ladybug reaches a length of 4 to 9 mm. The ladybug looks recognizable, because most often it is painted red and strewn with black dots. The ladybug has a convex, almost round body. The ladybug looks interesting, because there are so many small details in the structure of her body.

The ladybug insect has a head, pronotum, chest, abdomen, wings with elytra and legs. The ladybug has a small and short head, which is fixedly attached to the pronotum. On the head of the insect are eyes and movable antennae. The ladybug beetle flies with a pair of hind wings. The forewings of a ladybug are tough elytra that protect the main wings while she is on the ground. The ladybug flies perfectly and makes up to 85 strokes per second with its wings.

Everyone knows that the ladybug looks so bright to scare away predators. In addition to the variegated coloring, the ladybug also releases liquid. yellow color with a strong specific odour. This liquid is poisonous and serves as a defense against frogs, spiders and other potential enemies. The ladybug beetle secretes its poisonous liquid from the joints of the paws in case of danger. Also, in case of danger, the insect can even pretend to be dead.

Of course, the red ladybug is not the only option. color solution for this insect. There is a yellow ladybug, a black ladybug, and even a white ladybug. What a ladybug looks like and what color it will be depends on the type of ladybug. At the same time, young individuals have the most saturated color; in older individuals, it fades over time.

The types of ladybugs are very diverse. All of them have different shape, dimensions, color and number of dots. There are even ladybugs without dots. More than four thousand species of ladybugs are known, which are combined into 360 genera and are distributed in almost all parts of the world.

The most famous and common type of ladybug that we are most familiar with is the seven-spotted ladybug. It has the usual red color for us, and is named so because it has exactly 7 black dots. In the photo below you can see different kinds ladybugs.

Where does the ladybug live?

Ladybug lives almost everywhere except the Arctic and Antarctic. Ladybug lives on trees, shrubs and grass in different corners planets. Most often, a ladybug lives in the steppe zone, forests, mountains and gardens. In Russia, the ladybug lives on almost the entire territory, with the exception of the extreme northern regions. The ladybug also lives in Europe, Asia, Japan, China, India, Mongolia, Africa, Korea and America.

How does a ladybug live?

Ladybug lives, showing activity from early spring to late autumn. In winter, ladybugs hide under fallen leaves, tree bark, or rocks, where they remain until spring. But not all ladybugs live sedentary and stay over the winter where they spent the summer. Often, before the onset of cold weather, ladybugs make flights.

During periods of wintering and migration, ladybugs, usually leading a solitary lifestyle, gather together. Also, mass accumulations of this beetle are characteristic during the mating season. In the spring, the ladybug wakes up very early, it is enough for her that the temperature reaches only +10 ° C. Therefore, a ladybug can be seen one of the first after winter. Ladybugs live 10 to 12 months and only occasionally up to 2 years. The lifespan of a ladybug depends on the availability of food.

Probably for each of us it will be a great discovery that most ladybugs are predators. Because ladybugs eat aphids. A ladybug eats about a hundred aphids a day. In addition, ladybugs eat psyllids, scale insects, ticks and mealybugs. The ladybug larva is also predatory. Both the ladybug and its larva are very voracious.

Insect ladybug in huge quantities destroys various dangerous pests which is of great benefit agriculture. The seven-spot ladybug was even specially brought to America to fight against spider mites and aphids.

Of course, there are also herbivorous species of ladybugs. Such ladybugs feed on plants and harm agriculture. Herbivorous ladybugs are most common in the tropics of all continents and the subtropics of Southeast Asia.

In Russia, there are 3 types of ladybugs that feed on plants. Harm to potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and others vegetable crops the 28-spotted ladybug causes damage, the alfalfa ladybug damages sugar beet and alfalfa, and the non-spotted ladybug damages clover and sweet clover. All other types of ladybugs that live in Russia are predators.

ladybug larva

The mating season for ladybugs falls in the middle of spring, when the insects have already gained strength after hibernation or flight. During the breeding season, the female secretes a special secret by which the male finds her. The female then lays her eggs on plants. The ladybug chooses a place closer to the aphid colonies so that the offspring are provided with food.

Ladybug eggs look like pointed oval grains and can be colored yellow, orange or White color. The female lays them on the underside of the leaves or stems of the plant. One ladybug can lay up to 400 eggs, placing them in small piles. If the female eats well, then she is able to lay up to 1 thousand eggs.

After about a couple of weeks, motley oval-shaped ladybug larvae with a bluish-gray tint appear from the laid eggs. The ladybug larva has thin bristles on the body and a peculiar pattern, which is formed by a combination of orange, yellow and white spots. After hatching, the ladybug larva eats the shell of its egg and the dead eggs. When the larva gets stronger, it begins to destroy the aphid colonies. A voracious ladybug larva eats up to 300 aphids per day.

In the larval stage, the ladybug will be about 4-7 weeks. All this time, the ladybug larva is very mobile, because it is in constant search of food. The ladybug larva then turns into a chrysalis and attaches itself to the plant. Developing, it begins to acquire everything characteristics complete insect. After about 10 days, a fully formed adult appears from the cocoon.

It is still a mystery why the ladybug is called that. Perhaps it was so named because the ladybug insect is able to secrete "milk" - a poisonous yellow liquid that scares off enemies. And "God's" she may have been nicknamed for her harmless nature and help in preserving the crop by destroying aphids.

The ladybug insect enjoys great sympathy and respect all over the world. IN different countries ladybug is called by different names. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the ladybug is called the "beetle of the Holy Virgin Mary." In England, USA and Australia - "lady beetle". In Latin America - "St. Anthony's cow". In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus and Ukraine, it is called the "sun". In some countries, monuments have even been erected in honor of the ladybug.

Around this insect, there are many beliefs and signs that portend only good events. There are many legends with the participation of a ladybug. The ladybug is considered a symbol of good luck; in ancient times, people worshiped this insect and idolized it. The image of this beetle on clothes or various decorations was considered a talisman. In some cultures, it is forbidden to harm this insect, so as not to attract trouble.

The ancient Slavs considered the ladybug a messenger of the sun goddess. It is believed that you can not drive away the ladybug, which sat on you, so as not to frighten off fortune. If she flew into the house, then she brings peace and harmony into it. Even the weather was predicted with its help. This amazing and tiny insect with the simple name of a ladybug has such a worldwide love.

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Small beetles with a strongly convex rounded body. The underside of the body is flat. The head is very small. Coloring is usually bright from contrasting black, yellow, red tones. Legs thin, short, black. Heat-loving insects, in sunny weather hurriedly crawl, quickly take off and again sit on plants in search of food. When disturbed, the beetles secrete a sharp-smelling, yellowish, poisonous liquid that repels enemies. Beetles and larvae live openly on plants, mostly predators, only a few species are herbivorous and can harm crops. Predatory species destroy aphids, mealybugs, psyllids and other dangerous pests of horticultural and horticultural crops.

(Adalia bipunctata) Variable in colour, usually with a black pronotum and red elytra with one black spot each. Body length up to 5 mm. Beetles and larvae destroy aphids. Especially useful in orchards.

(Anatis ocellata) The pronotum is black, with a yellow pattern. Elytra are rufous, each with 9-10 black eye spots. Body length up to 9 mm. Beetles and larvae feed on aphids that live on coniferous trees.

(Exochomus quadripustulatus) Black beetle with 4 large red spots on elytra. Body length up to 6 mm. Common and ubiquitous species. Beetles and larvae destroy sedentary insects that live in colonies on plants and suck out their juices: scale insects, hermes and worms.

(Propylaea quatuordecimpunctata) Pronotum yellow, with 4 black, sometimes merging spots. Elytra yellow, each with 7 oblong spots, which often merge into longitudinal and transverse stripes. Body length up to 5 mm. Beetles and larvae feed on aphids.

(Calvia quatuordecimguttata) Pronotum and elytra yellowish-brown, each elytron with 5-7 large light spots, which form two transverse rows in the middle part. Body length up to 6 mm. Beetles and larvae feed on aphids and psyllids.

(Coccinella septempunctata) The beetle is black, with 2 white spots on the pronotum. Elytra red, with 7 black spots. Body length up to 8 mm. Ladybug occurs all summer, destroys aphids on various plants. During the day, the beetle eats from 10 to 40 aphids. The female lays up to 700 eggs. Particularly voracious are bluish, red-spotted larvae, eating an average of 50 aphids of various sizes per day. In autumn, ladybirds flock together and overwinter in large clusters under plant debris, usually in warm places. After wintering, ladybugs appear in early spring.

(Adonia variegata) Beetles with a yellow pronotum, which has black spot with 4 blades on the front edge. Elytra intense red, with 3-6 black spots on each elytron. One unpaired black spot located at the base of the elytra. Body length up to 6 mm. Beetles and larvae are found in aphid colonies on various plants. The species is one of the main natural enemies aphids.

(Scymnus frontalis) A black beetle with 2 red spots on the elytra, of which sometimes only the anterior one is preserved. The body is covered with hairs. Body length up to 3 mm. Beetles and larvae feed on serious plant pests - aphids and scale insects. For the entire development cycle, one beetle destroys more than 600 pest specimens.

Ladybugs (Coccinellidae)

The beetles are easily recognizable by their appearance - the body is hemispherical, usually short-oval, convex from above, flat from below, legs are short. The antennae are small with a small club at the end. The coloration of beetles is typical, in which rounded spots or stripes are scattered over a bright, rarely black background. There are about 75 species in the fauna of Baikal Siberia, more than 4000 species of ladybugs are known in the world fauna.

Why did these beetles get such a strange name? Obviously because there are cows of different colors, with dark and light spots. And "God's" - because these beetles give the impression of harmless creatures: they do not sting, do not bite, and only when caught, they release a yellow "milk". The bright coloring of ladybugs warns of their inedibility. Ladybugs are successfully used in biological control. The main food of ladybugs is aphids, psyllids, coccids, which deplete plants by sucking juices and polluting the stomata of leaves with their secretions. Cows, laying eggs, attach them in places of accumulation of sucking insects, and the emerging larvae immediately attack the prey.

One of the most interesting aspects of the biology of ladybugs is their seasonal migrations and mass accumulations of beetles in wintering areas. Some cows form clusters in autumn on rocky slopes, walls of buildings, gradually climb into cracks and winter there. During the migrations of cows, the rocks and walls of houses are completely covered with beetles. The reasons for the formation of clusters of cows have not been finally clarified.

Some species live mainly on trees, others on grasses, and others on vegetation of any type. In the crowns of trees, a cow is common harmony(Harmonia axyridis) with a very variable pattern. Elytra are yellow or orange, with 19 black spots, which partially disappear or merge to form bands. The light forms have a pronotum with an M-shaped dark spot in the middle. Body length 7.4-8.2 mm. The body of the larvae is colored dark color with a yellow or red pattern and bears branched outgrowths. The pupa is orange-red with black spots, attached to the plants by the posterior end of the body.

Common in deciduous and coniferous forests ladybird ocellated(Anatis ocellata). Elytra brown, each with 10 elongated spots bordered by light rims; spots often unite into longitudinal stripes, or sometimes disappear. The pronotum is brown with large black spots. Body length 7.5-9.0 mm. The pupa is spotted, light, with toothed outgrowths on the sides of the abdomen. Lives in the same places ladybug three-striped(Coccinella trifasciata). The pronotum is black, with a triangular whitish-yellow spot in the anterior corner. Elytra are yellow, orange-red or red, with three wide black transverse stripes. Body length 4.0-5.6 mm. The pupa is red, with black spots. It occurs in large numbers on tree and shrub vegetation, as well as in meadows. seven-spot ladybug(Coccinella septempunctata). The pronotum is black with small yellow spots on the anterior corners. Scutellum black, elytra red with 7 black dots. Body length 5.2-7.0 mm.

Ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata)

common in herbs ladybug changeable(Adonia variegata). The pronotum is black with yellow lateral margins and usually with 2 specks in the center. Elytra yellowish, each with 6 black dots and one common point at the shield. The dots may merge or disappear. The underside of the body is black, the legs are brown-yellow, the thighs are dark. Length 3.0-5.5 mm. The larva is blue-black, with red spots, covered with spiny warts.

Ladybug (Adonia variegata)	Ladybug larva

Ladybug seven-spotted(Hippodamia septemmaculata) common in wet meadows. The head is black, with large yellow spots on the anterior margin. The pronotum is black with yellow margins. Elytra are orange or yellow with a large common spot near the scutellum and 3 or 5 black spots. The lower body and legs are black, the legs are brown. Body length 5.0-7.8 mm.Mannerheim cow(Coccinella hieroglyphica mannerheimi) is less common. The head is black with 2 small yellow spots on the forehead and around the eyes. The pronotum is black with 2 yellow spots on the anterior corners and a narrow stripe on the sides. Elytra yellow-brown with 2 black transverse bands. The underside of the body is black. Body length 3.5-5.0 mm.

The Latin name of the ladybug sounds like "coccineus" - which means "scarlet". It was the catchy bright color that served as the basis for such a name.

In different countries, this bug is called differently, but each of the names testifies to people's love and respect for this.

Latin Americans call it "St. Anthony's cow", Germans and Swiss - "Virgin Mary's bug", Czechs and Slovaks - "Sun", and Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians - "Ladybug". Let's find out what this insect brings to ours - benefit or harm, where it lives and what it eats.

Description and types

A beautiful beetle with spots on its wings - all the inhabitants of the country know this insect very well and have seen them more than a dozen times in their gardens.

The length of the body of the beetle is from 5 to 8 mm. In our country, the most common ladybug with seven points on the shell ("Seven-pointed"). The elegant bug got its nickname for seven dark spots on scarlet wings.

Periodically there are beetles painted unusually: with yellowish wings and dark dots, or black with white spots on the shell, or even without dots at all.

There may be more or less than seven specks; the color of the elytra can also be in several variants. Around the world, there are about five thousand species of ladybugs.

The ladybug feeds in nature and shell and how it saves gardens and. Cows of the insect world are formidable exterminators of aphids living on back side leaf plates of garden and.

Did you know? In many countries, there is such a line of agricultural business as breeding ladybugs. Farmers are seriously involved in these beneficial insects, the entire development cycle of bugs is under strict control. In the future, insects are sold to farmers and the bill goes to thousands of individuals in each batch. Aphid hunters are sold both in the country where they were raised and sent by mail around the world.

Life cycle features

Adult members of the family live and winter in open field, hiding in dry rolled leaves or under dried blades of grass. With the onset of heat, it is time to breed, and the beetles lay a clutch of 10-20 eggs.

Masonry is attached either on the bark of vertical branches, or on inside leaf blade, near the aphid settlement. From eggs to adulthood, insects gradually go through four stages.

The larvae of these insects have a brown-gray color, as the time of pupation approaches, the color of the cover changes to pale yellow. When the young beetle emerges from the pupa, it needs a little time for the elytra to finally acquire a scarlet color.

Larvae, like adults, mainly feed on aphids, this species belongs to predatory insects. Throughout life cycle a female beetle lays about a thousand eggs, from which, over time, a thousand young beetles will hatch, grow and give birth to a new generation.

From laying eggs to the release of an adult beetle in the summer, 40-60 days pass. The biological significance of a ladybug can hardly be overestimated: only one female beetle destroys up to four thousand aphids throughout her life, thereby saving plants occupying half a hectare of land from destruction.

Familiar to everyone since childhood, a funny bug with red wings in a small dot in one day can destroy a little more than 150-170 individuals of leaf-sucking aphids.

Important! The larva of this beetle does not have a very attractive appearance - it is a strange creature without wings and with bright dots on its back. If you see such a monster on your loved ones or - do not rush to destroy it, soon this larva will turn into a cute colorful bug.

What is the use

The benefits that a ladybug brings are noticeable to the naked eye, you just have to look closely, for example, at cucumbers. The reverse side of the leaf is dotted with aphids actively sucking the juice of the leaves.

If they are left alone, after four days the leaves will completely dry out and the plant will die. But scarlet hunters begin their work, and cucumber plantations will be cleared of in a day.

It is the presence on these carnivorous insects that solves the problems with the destruction of aphid colonies on berry bushes, fruit trees, on and . The ability to do without chemical treatments will allow you to safely eat a ripe fruit crop and.

Some gardeners in early spring, seeing small colonies of aphids on some plants, immediately begin to resort to destroying them with pesticides. It is not necessary to completely destroy aphids on plants, because adult ladybugs will die without food.

With the onset of autumn, it is not necessary to ideally clean the garden from fading plant debris, because in the absence of dry fallen leaves, empty birdhouses or heaps of brushwood left for the winter, ladybugs will have nowhere to safely wait out the cold period.

Did you know? There is such a sign that portends close luck in something: if a ladybug lands on your palm, then you can expect unexpected joy, good luck. In no case do they shake off an arriving insect from the hand, so as not to shake off luck, but wait until it flies away of its own accord.

Is there any harm

Although the benefits of the activity of beetles significantly exceed the harm they cause, it still exists. Not everything that ladybugs eat is good for the plant world.

Since the bug is a predatory and carnivorous insect, in addition to aphids, it can also eat other insects useful for the garden and garden.

There are several types of ladybugs that cause significant damage to cultural plantings:

Lives in hot countries (Africa, Asia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan). It is also ubiquitous in some European countries.

It does a lot of crop damage. Our climate is not suitable for melon ladybugs due to harsh winters.

- is a real "scourge of God" for landings, and in the Amur Region, Khabarovsk Territory and on the Sakhalin Peninsula.

In some places, such a bug is called a potato ladybug. This insect not only harms the crop, vegetables and, but also spreads viral plant diseases when flying from field to field.

, or multicolored Asian - aggressive and gluttonous creatures, farmers of North America are in a panic from this type of beetle, Western Europe and England. In 1988, these insects were brought to North America.

With their help, it was supposed to establish biocontrol over the immoderately spreading aphids. But this species destroys not only aphids, but also members of its own species, and today has become the most common species in the United States and Great Britain.

Biologists of these countries are sounding the alarm - the remaining 46 species of ladybirds, which were previously ubiquitous, have almost disappeared.

Important! A gardener who wants to keep the population of these elegant bugs on his territory needs to remember that any cultivation of the garden will lead to the death of not only harmful insects. Pests after the treatment with pesticides quickly restore their numbers, but beneficial beetles multiply more slowly.

How to attract ladybugs

Attracting beetles to your garden or garden is not easy, but possible. To do this, you need to plant plants that attract this insect to settle in your territory.

Gardeners have long noticed that these bugs are lured towards them by the smell of planting,.

Experienced gardeners leave to handsome beetles convenient places for wintering - if such shelters are prepared deliberately and in corners convenient for insects, then insects willingly remain in them to winter.

A well-known trick: after harvesting, dry peelings of corn heads are tied into bundles and such “bouquets” are hung in the garden or on - where what ladybugs eat grows.

In September, in search of a warm, dry and cozy shelter for wintering, insects willingly crowd in large numbers into the corn "brooms" kindly provided to them.

The gardener can only collect at the end of September the "winter huts" covered with sitting bugs, transfer them to the barn and hang them on ceiling beam. In the spring, the beetles themselves will leave the winter shelter and scatter about their business.

These insects will stay for the summer in your garden and your garden. It must be remembered that even a dozen ladybugs will cause huge damage to the aphid army.

Even if the owner did not take care to gather the aphid hunters for the winter, they themselves will find shelter in the yard: in a pile of firewood, under the bark of old ones, under a bunch of leaves or shavings.

All representatives of the insect world hide there and spend the winter in a dense friendly company. For our climate, it is important that such shelters are not high from the surface and in winter they are covered with snow, saving the beetles from freezing.

In European countries, special garden "houses for ladybugs" are sold in gardening stores. Such small houses look like mailboxes or mini-birdhouses.

Houses for useful beetles are made from natural materials( , bamboo, plant remains, vine).

In summer, insects do not fly into such a house, since they do not need shelter during the warm period, but in order to lure them to the house and invite them to stay for the winter, people lay bait containing pheromones in these boxes.

Such a house is very decorative and decorates the garden, but at the same time it is designed in such a way that insects will not be covered with snow in winter and they will be able to survive the cold without loss.

“Cow, cow, fly to the sky - your children eat sweets there,” - which of the children in childhood, putting their finger up, did not wait with bated breath when, after these words, the ladybug would spread its wings and take off ...

This is a piece of childhood for every adult. Ladybug is a small summer bug with a bright elegant color of wings, pure childish joy and a tireless gardener's assistant in the fight against garden pests.

Gardeners should create them comfortable conditions for life and they will remain in our gardens for a long time - decorating them and saving them.

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October 28, 2009 0 No comments 12 985 views

You probably wondered more than once why the ladybug is called that? After all, this tiny and harmless creature does not look like a cow at all. And about the epithet "God's" and completely incomprehensible. As for the word "cow", here comes into force biological feature insect: in case of danger, milk is released from the pores on the folds of the limbs of the bug, scaring off predators. As for the word "God", there are several versions. One of them lies in the beliefs that this insect is directly connected with God, it lives in heaven and only occasionally descends to earth. At the same time, she plays the role of a real messenger, you can find out from her what the weather will be like, whether the harvest will be successful, etc. This is reflected in other cultures: in Germany it is called Marienkaefer (beetle of the Holy Virgin Mary), in England - Ladybird (Lady Bird, bird of the Virgin), in Argentina - St. Anthony's Cow.

(Total 13 photos)

1. Harlequin ladybugs spend the winter indoors - usually in large groups. (Nick Greatorex-Davies/Centre for Ecology & Hydrology/PA)

2. Ladybugs have invaded Warnemunde Beach, Germany. The harlequin ladybug lives in Asia. In North America and continental Europe, it has been introduced as a major aphid killer. (Bernd Wuestneck/EPA/Corbis)

3. Unfortunately, the harlequin ladybug also eats local species of ladybugs as well as their food. (Fritz Rauschenbach/Corbis)

4. The ladybug harlequin is quite diverse appearance and therefore difficult to distinguish from other species. (Craig Tuttle/Corbis)

5. A black harlequin ladybug with four red dots eats aphids. (Nigel Cattlin/Visuals Unlimited, Inc./Getty Images)

6. Thousands of dead ladybugs with seven dots on their backs lie on the streets of Cromer after they infested the coastal city of Norfolk. (Jason Bye/Rex Features)

7. Ladybug with two dots lays eggs. Ladybugs with two dots are almost half the size of harlequins. (Robert Harding/Rex Features)

8. Detailed view of the head of a ladybug - mouth, antennae and complex structure of the eye. (Dennis Kunkel Microscopy/Corbis)

9. Ladybug with seven dots. (Steve & Ann Toon/Robert Harding World Imagery)