Many people have a rather cool attitude towards insects. The reaction to the sight of small creatures, quickly moving their numerous legs or annoyingly hovering above your head, can vary from mild disgust to panic fear.
But there is an exception. Ladybug evokes only positive emotions. Moreover, in many countries it is believed that a bright bug is a symbol of good luck, and if it is damaged, a person will get into serious trouble.
Description of the ladybug
Ladybug (lat. Coccinellidae) is an insect that belongs to the order Coleoptera or beetles. The size of ladybugs depends on the variety they belong to and range from 0.8 mm to 18 mm. Most species reach a size of 4–8 mm.
The ladybug's body is rounded or slightly elongated into an oval. It is flat below and strongly convex above. The surface of the body is most often bare, but in some species a layer of thin villi is clearly visible. The structure of the beetle can be distinguished by the head, thorax, consisting of 3 segments (prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax), abdomen, wings with elytra and legs.
In flight
The head is small, motionlessly connected to the prothorax. Sometimes the head can be elongated in the transverse or longitudinal direction. On the head there are rather large eyes, flexible antennae consisting of 8 - 11 segments, and a gnawing type mouthparts.
Like other representatives of the insect class, the ladybug has 6 legs, consisting of 4 segments. The legs are thin, but well developed, with 2 claws on the last segment. Ladybugs have 1 pair of transparent, rather wide wings. The wings are protected by a pair of hard elytra, like those of other representatives of the beetle order. It is the elytra that are the brightest parts of the body of ladybugs. They can be yellow, orange, red with dots and specks of black, dark brown, and white. Much less common among ladybugs are beetles with black elytra decorated with yellow or red markings.
Due to its bright color, the ladybug looks like a poisonous insect, which is only partly true. These beetles do not inject venom when they bite, but secrete from the knee joints a caustic hemolymph that is bright yellow, bitter and has an unpleasant odor, which contains toxic substances.
How birds sleep
Birds that spend the night not in tree branches practically sleep standing up.
Why don't they fall to the ground? Birds have a long tendon, about the same length as the bird's leg, connected to a strong muscle. When the bird sits, the tendon stretches, acts on the fingers, and they compress, covering the branch. Many birds sleep with their heads tucked under their wings and their feathers raised to protect them from the cold. Herons and storks often sleep standing on one leg. Some parrots in South America sleep in an original way. They hang upside down, clinging to a branch with one leg. Some swifts sleep in a large ball.
Bird sleep is associated with some special metabolic issues. In birds, metabolism is very intense. The normal temperature of birds is 42 C, that is, the temperature that a person experiences only with a serious illness. During sleep, chemical processes in the birds' bodies slow down, and body temperature drops to 20 C.
Many water birds sleep "float". Often ducks and swans are captured by ice: while they sleep, the water around them freezes. Seagulls also sleep on the water. They claim that they can fall asleep for a short time during flight. The ability to sleep in flight is also attributed to birds that can make long flights, such as albatrosses. This may be true, but albatrosses undoubtedly spend most of their sleep on the water. Some animals sleep underwater.
Where does this name come from?
The question of why the insect got its name still remains open. There are several versions:
- The arthropod was called “cow” either for its ability to secrete so-called “milk”, or for spots on its body reminiscent of the colors of many breeds of cows;
- The insect was awarded the epithet “ladybug” for helping people preserve crops; in addition, despite the fact that in nature it is a rather dangerous predator, among people the ladybug is valued for its harmlessness and gentle disposition.
There are other options for the origin of the name. For example, the ancient Slavs associated a bright bug with the goddess of fertility.
Types of ladybugs
According to the generally accepted classification, there are about 4,000 varieties of ladybugs on the planet, which are grouped into 7 subfamilies and 360 genera. Insects differ in size, color, habitat and diet. The most common types are listed below.
Point-to-point
The body size of these small bugs rarely exceeds 5 mm. The color is dark red, there are 2 black dots on the elytra. These members of the ladybird family are found mainly in Europe and North America.
Point-to-point
Seven-point
The most common species in Europe. The body size of the bug is 7-8 mm. The elytra are bright red, each with 3 black spots, and another one is located in the center at the base of the head. They feed mainly on aphids.
Twelve-point
This species of ladybird is found in North America. The body of the beetle grows up to 6 mm, the color is red or bright pink, and there are 6 dark spots on each of the elytra.
Thirteen-point
This type of ladybird is widespread in Eurasia and North America. The insect's wing covers are brick-red or light brown, with 6 spots on each and one on the head. Sometimes several spots merge into one.
Thirteen-point
Asian
Asian ladybugs grow up to 7 mm. This species is divided into 2 subspecies, differing in their coloring. One variety has black elytra, and on them there are red-rufous and pale yellow spots. The second one has dark dots of different sizes on a yellow background. As the name implies, representatives of this species live in Asia.
Ocellated
Representatives of this species are among the largest ladybugs. Their size can reach 11 mm. The beetles have an original color - the yellow or orange elytra of the ladybug are painted with black spots framed by a light stripe. There are 20 such spots in total.
Ocellated
Pointless
A rare species of ladybirds, distinguished from their relatives by their uniform color and the absence of any markings. Size from 4 to 6 mm, color varies from red to brown.
Blue
Surprisingly, there are not only red and yellow ladybugs in the world. Australia is home to an amazing species, colored bright blue with a metallic sheen. The bugs are very small, rarely growing more than 4 mm.
Blue
House cricket (house cricket) - description, appearance, characteristics.
House crickets are fairly small insects. The size of the slender, slightly flattened body, covered with a hard chitinous shell, in adult individuals ranges from 16 to 26 mm in length. The color of the domestic cricket can be grayish-yellow, straw-fawn or various shades of brown with streaks, specks or spots of indeterminate shape.
On the head of the cricket, which resembles a flattened egg in shape, 3 dark arcuate stripes are clearly visible. The small eyes located on its sides have a complex facet structure. The mouthparts of crickets are of the gnawing type in structure. The antennae, consisting of several segments, are an organ of touch. Often their size is slightly greater than the length of the cricket's body.
The rear pair of well-developed membranous wings helps house crickets easily fly from place to place. At rest, the cricket's wings lie along the abdomen and resemble long, sharp tails. If necessary, house crickets can travel quite long distances. When the insect is on the ground, its wings are reliably protected from damage by dense elytra that lie flat on the back, with the right one slightly overlapping the left.
Like all orthoptera, the house cricket has 3 pairs of legs. The hind legs have thickened thighs and are designed to perform fairly long jumps. It is noteworthy that the hearing organs of these insects are located on the shins of the front pair of legs. The paired appendages located on the last segment of the abdomen are quite long and resemble peculiar antennae sticking out in different directions.
Sexual dimorphism is expressed in the presence of a special sound apparatus in male crickets, which is similar in structure to the sound apparatus of grasshoppers, but differs from it in greater complexity and a different arrangement of components. The stridulatory vein, which functions as a closure, is located on the right elytra, and the vein against which it rubs is located on the left elytra. When they rub against each other, the familiar trill of a cricket appears. In crickets, the sound apparatus is more developed and occupies a larger area than in grasshoppers.
Female crickets have an ovipositor at the very end of their abdomen, shaped like a spear. Its length ranges from 11 to 15 mm. With the help of this organ, females dig holes in the soil into which fertilized eggs are laid.
The average lifespan of a house cricket rarely exceeds 3 months.
Lifestyle and habitat
Ladybugs live in almost every corner of the globe with the exception of Antarctica and the polar regions, where the air temperature never rises above zero. The habitat depends on the type of insect. It can be:
- any plants that have aphid colonies;
- meadows (most often located near water bodies);
- trees;
- field herbs;
- reed, sedge and other aquatic plants.
You can find bright bugs in a vegetable garden or garden, in a city park, on the edge of a forest.
Ladybugs are loners. They gather in groups only during the mating season, as well as for wintering or migrating to a warmer region. Insects are diurnal. They are in search of food, either crawling from plant to plant or making short flights.
Lifestyle
Ladybugs prefer to live “alone”, apart from other representatives of the species.
Only during the mating season do they come together to continue their family line. They also gather together for flights and wintering.
A ladybug can be called a fruit-loving bug, therefore, with the onset of a cold period, all insects living in temperate latitudes gather together and fly away to warm countries.
Among insects there is a sedentary species. They do not fly to countries with hot and dry climates, but gather in one place and winter in huge communities, reaching 400 million adult individuals. If you calculate how much such a “ball” weighs, you can get a figure equal to several tons.
To shelter from unfavorable climatic conditions, the “suns” hide in the ruins of stones and also take cover under fallen leaf blades of shrubs.
Under good conditions and the availability of food, spotted insects can live for 1 year. Under unfavorable conditions, the lifespan of insects does not exceed several months.
Nutrition
Most ladybugs are predators. Both larvae and adults feed on insects, including:
- aphid;
- caterpillars;
- scale insects;
- spider mites;
- eggs of butterflies and Colorado beetles;
- insect larvae.
Bugs do not hunt in the literal sense of the word. They do not ambush prey or set traps. The ladybug slowly crawls through the plant until it comes across something it can eat.
Representatives of several species eat exclusively plant foods: leaves, flowers and fruits, pollen, mushroom mycelium.
How and where do they winter?
Depending on the species, ladybugs overwinter in different ways. Sedentary species, adapted to existence in temperate climates, most often wait out the cold season, gathering in huge groups (up to several million individuals) and taking refuge under fallen leaves, under the bark of trees, between stones, hiding in buildings, such as barns, garages or even residential buildings. They fall into a state of torpor and emerge from cover only with the arrival of warmth.
Other species also unite in large colonies in the fall. But they do not stay for the winter, but fly south, where they spend the winter. Insects fly at high altitudes, descending to the ground during strong winds or rain. During such flights, many bugs die.
The colony
Interestingly, ladybugs always return exactly to the area from which they flew.
Where is it found?
Ladybugs can be found throughout the year (for example, if you dig up the dry leaves under which they hide during the cold season), but you can see them without making any effort only in spring, summer and early autumn. In winter they hibernate. At this time of year, entire groups of ladybugs protect themselves from the cold in secluded places, for example under the bark of a tree.
In summer, they can most often be found on roses, cherries and other garden plants affected by aphids. Taking a closer look at the plants, you can see the testicles of ladybugs. Ladybug larvae live openly on plants. In winter, you can find the seven-spotted ladybug among the needles of coniferous trees.
Reproduction and lifespan
The life cycle of a ladybug includes 4 stages:
- egg;
- larva;
- chrysalis;
- adult.
Most often, ladybugs reproduce in the spring, when the air warms up enough. When females are ready to mate, they secrete pheromones, by the smell of which males find them. A fertilized ladybug lays eggs that look like small, elongated grains of rice that are yellow, white, or orange in color. One ladybug can lay up to 400 eggs.
Most often, the female lays eggs on the lower surface of the leaves, choosing a plant on which an aphid colony is located. This is done in order to provide the younger generation of ladybugs with access to the food they need to develop. After about 10–15 days, larvae emerge from the eggs. At first, the nutrients contained in the shell of the eggs are enough for them, but very soon they begin to actively eat aphids.
Ladybug larvae bear little resemblance to adult insects. They have a large head, an elongated spindle-shaped body, and long legs. The body is usually covered with small hairs, the color is variegated, most often combining brown, yellow, white and orange.
This stage of development lasts 1-2 months, during which the larva goes through 4 instars, after which it pupates. After 8–10 days, a bug emerges from the pupa. Depending on the variety, ladybugs reach sexual maturity at 3 to 6 months of age.
The average lifespan of a ladybug is about a year, but in general the lifespan varies from 8 months to 2 years.
Benefits and harms
Ladybug on hand.
A small beetle brings great benefits. By eating a huge number of pests, they help in the fight against them. There are also special farms where these insects are raised and can be purchased if necessary.
In the 19th century, in the United States, the grooved bug hunted citrus fruits, and it massively destroyed plantations. To solve this problem, it was decided to get a rhodolia ladybug, which successfully coped with the task.
It is worth noting a few important points that you should be wary of.
- The Asian ladybug shows aggression and can bite a person.
- Large crowds can disturb people.
- The liquid that they secrete for self-defense causes allergies.
- The beetles carry mites and a number of infections.
- Some are pests.
- There is a spider and an insect that looks like a ladybug.
