Renée DeVincent
Renée DeVincent
Ladybugs have a way of catching our attention. When one lands nearby, it’s a small reminder of how interesting and important even the tiniest creatures can be. Let’s take a closer look at these colorful beetles and the important role they play in our backyards.
Ladybugs are small beetles known for their bright red or orange bodies with black spots. But not all ladybugs are red! Some can be yellow, pink, orange, or even black. In North America, there are about 500 species of ladybugs, with around 450 native to the continent.
Ladybugs live almost everywhere in the world. You can find them in gardens, forests, grasslands, deserts, and mountains. As long as there are plants and bugs to eat, ladybugs will find a home.
Ladybugs have bright colors to warn other animals that they are poisonous. If the warning doesn't work, when a ladybug feels threatened, it uses "reflex bleeding." It lets out a yellow fluid from its legs that smells bad to predators, helping to scare away animals that might want to eat it.
When the weather gets cold, ladybugs gather in big groups called a "loveliness." They stay close together under tree bark, in leaf piles, or sometimes even inside houses to keep warm through the winter. Swarming indoors can be a problem for many people. In the sections below, you'll find tips on preventing ladybugs from getting into your home and why it's important to wait before cleaning up your yard in spring to protect ladybugs and other helpful insects.
A ladybug's lifespan can vary depending on the species, but most live for about 1 year. They spend most of their time in the larval or adult stage, eating pests and laying eggs for the next generation of ladybugs! There are four stages in a Ladybug's life cycle: Eggs, Larva, Pupa, and Adult.
Ladybug Eggs
Ladybug eggs are usually bright yellow or orange and shaped like tiny grains of rice. The mother ladybug lays them in groups of about 10 to 50 eggs. She chooses plants with plenty of aphids because the baby ladybugs will be very hungry when the eggs hatch. Aphids make the perfect first meal!
The eggs hatch in about three to seven days, depending on the weather. When they hatch, the babies are called larvae.
(Photo by: By Xiangli - stock.adobe.com)
Ladybug Larvae
Ladybug larvae look very different from the round, spotted ladybugs we know. They are long, bumpy, and usually black with orange or yellow markings. Some people think they look like tiny alligators! Even though they look strange, ladybug larvae are very important for gardens.
They are very hungry and eat lots of pests, especially aphids. A single ladybug larva can eat hundreds of bugs before it grows up. The larva stage lasts about two to three weeks as the young ladybug eats and grows. Then it gets ready to change again into the next stage of its life.
(Photo by: By Georg - stock.adobe.com)
Ladybug Pupa
After the larva has eaten enough, it attaches itself to a leaf or stem and becomes a pupa. During this time, it stays very still while big changes happen inside. From the outside, a pupa looks like a small, round, orange or yellow bump. Inside, the larva is transforming into an adult ladybug! This stage lasts about one week. When it is ready, the new ladybug breaks out of the pupa, ready to explore the world.
(Photo by: tomatito26 - stock.adobe.com)
Adult Ladybug
When the ladybug first comes out of its pupa, it looks soft and pale. After a few hours, its shell hardens and its bright colors appear. Now it looks like the ladybugs we recognize, with shiny red or orange shells and black spots. Adult ladybugs continue to eat pests like aphids, helping gardens stay healthy. They will spend the rest of their lives laying eggs, finding food, and keeping plants safe.
(Photo by: Birute Vijeikiene - stock.adobe.com)
Ladybugs have three main body parts—the head, thorax, and abdomen.ο»Ώ
Like all insects, ladybugs have an
exoskeleton—a hard outer shell that keeps them safe!
(Diagram by: blueringmedia - stock.adobe.com
Have you ever spotted a bright red ladybug perched on a leaf or flower? These tiny beetles aren’t just fun to find—they’re also some of the best helpers a backyard can have!
Ladybugs might look small, but they do a great job protecting plants. Ladybugs are carnivores, which means they eat other insects. Their favorite food is aphids—tiny bugs that suck juice from plants. If too many aphids feed on a plant, the plant can die. Ladybugs help by eating lots of aphids. One ladybug can eat up to 5,000 aphids in its lifetime. They also snack on other plant pests like mealybugs and scale insects, making them natural pest control experts.
If you want to find ladybugs, check your flowers, vegetable plants, and shrubs. Look closely—ladybugs like to stay where food is easy to find. They’re also fans of warm, sunny spots, so sunny corners of your yard are great places to look.
Want more ladybugs hanging around? Plant flowers like daisies, sunflowers, and marigolds to bring them in. Ladybugs love the colors and shelter that the plants provide. Leaving some leaves or mulch around also gives them safe places to hide and hibernate. And remember—avoid using harsh pesticides. They can harm ladybugs and other helpful insects.
Ladybugs and many other helpful insects often spend the winter hidden in garden debris like leaf piles, hollow stems, and dead plant material. In colder months, they gather in large groups, called a "loveliness," to stay warm. You might find them tucked under tree bark, in leaf litter, or inside buildings.
It's important not to clean up your yard too early in the spring. Clearing leaves and old plants before insects emerge can disrupt their life cycles.
Here are a few general guidelines to help:
You can help protect ladybugs and other important pollinators as they start a new season by waiting a little longer to clean up.
As temperatures drop in the fall, ladybugs seek warm places to overwinter, which can lead them into homes. To minimize this:β
Materials:
Instructions:
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